Marriage Counseling
by LizzeXX
Summary: 11/OC -Time Lady- When Gallifrey fell, the last person the Doctor ever thought he'd see again was his wife. But when a change in the timelines occurs and his wife is behind it a reunion is long overdue. Yet not all is well in paradise as both Time Lords have lives they've led apart. But as the Ponds decide to leave, will his wife decide to stay? First in the Gallifreyan Sacraments.
1. Hello Wife

A/N: Hiya! So, this story is Marriage Counseling, and it is the first story in my fifth OC series for Doctor Who (1. The Academic Series (the Professor), 2. The Lunar Cycle (Evy Daniels), 3. The Heart of Time Saga (the Angel), and 4. The Time Lady Memoirs (Mac) if you're interested ;)) and will involve a new OC/Time Lady. I decided to call this series 'The Gallifreyan Sacraments' due to the OC being the Doctor's wife from Gallifrey and marriage is a sacrament ;) This story will largely follow the events the OC and the Doctor are aware of, though it may include some scenes where they are discussed elsewhere.

This will essentially be a revision of Series 7 of Doctor Who to incorporate an OC. However, this story will start at Doomsday (Series 2) and also include The Wedding of River Song (Series 6) before really picking up with Asylum of the Daleks ;) This story will be updated every day and each episode will be 2 chapters except for this first one. The specials, however, will only be 1 chapter as will a few of the mini-sodes/prequels that will be 1 chapter each as well :) This will be a Doctor/OC story, though this story will mostly feature rebuilding an already established but strained relationship, hence the title Marriage Counseling ;) So this story will be about 30 chapters long.

I can't give a physical description of the OC just yet, she changes quite a bit at first, but we'll get one for certain tomorrow...which also means that the cover for this story will not be up until tomorrow as well :) I'll also post a tumblr photo of all her incarnations up to the one we'll see in this main story tomorrow as well :)

~8~ is a scene break.  
"_italics_" is Gallifreyan  
'_italics_' is mental communication between Time Lords

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who...or we would have more information on the Doctor's actual wife :)

Enjoy!

~8~

Hello Wife

This couldn't be happening.

This just…it couldn't be happening.

That was all the Doctor could think. How could it all go so wrong so fast? He had tried, desperately to keep everything under control, but it had all fallen apart. Yvonne had been taken as a Cyberman, the Daleks had escaped a prisonship, and the entire world was being overrun by all of them. He'd tried to stop it, to prevent it, had nearly succeeded…but he'd failed.

He'd failed and now Rose was paying the price for it.

"Just hold on!" the Doctor shouted as he struggled to reach out to Rose, who was literally dangling from the levers of the Ghost Room of Torchwood Tower, trying to keep her grip as the Void sucked her towards it, "HOLD ON!"

She had been safe, moments ago. They had opened the Void via the levers the scientists were using, had sucked the Daleks and Cybermen into it, the two species covered in 'Void stuff' as he'd called it, making them the targets. He and Rose had been covered in it as well, but they had the magnaclamps, clamps stuck to the wall that they just had to hold onto, just hold on a little longer. But the lever on Rose's side had begun to spark, had started to lift up once more and Rose had to push it down once more. She'd tried to reach it, to grab it and put it down while still holding onto the clamp, but she couldn't. She'd fallen into her lever and pushed it down, sucking the last of the Daleks and Cybers into the Void…

But the force was too much, was sucking her in with too much power, and Rose's grip on the lever couldn't hold. The Doctor's eyes widened in terror as Rose Tyler, his companion, began to fly towards the Void…

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light from just behind the lever…and Captain Jack Harkness appeared, grabbing onto it with one hand and reaching out to snag Rose's wrist in the other, just in time to keep her from being pulled into the Void, holding on just long enough for the Void to seal itself, the energy of Torchwood depleting and closing down the portal itself.

The Doctor sagged down against the wall on his side as the Void finally closed, the suctioning dying away, to stare at the man in shock as the captain hugged a sobbing Rose to him, the woman having come far, FAR too close to being lost in what had been defined as a Hell-dimension only a short while ago. He opened his mouth to ask Jack what was going on, how he was there, WHY he was there…but could only close his mouth again, no sound coming out.

Jack stepped back a moment later, seeming to remember something and quickly gave Rose the onceover before straightening and tapping an earpiece that was resting in his ear, unnoticed by the Doctor till he turned to face him and winked, "Mission accomplished!" he cheered to whoever was listening, "I did it! Heading back now."

"What…" the Doctor managed to breathe out, just blinking at the man, unable to move despite his relief at seeing Rose still with him and it had nothing to do with how uncomfortable he felt around Jack, who was now literally a walking, talking fixed point in time that made his insides churn in discomfort.

Jack just laughed, tapping the earpiece off, "I can't believe I did it!" he murmured more to himself than them, his eyes wide, his expression just utterly exuberant, as though he truly hadn't thought he'd be able to accomplish…whatever it was he'd been trying to do.

"What?"

"Ooh, she said this would happen," Jack laughed, the adrenaline still coursing through him from saving Rose, "Shoulda known not to doubt her."

"What?!" the Doctor repeated, before wincing and shaking his head, only to repeat, "I mean…what?!"

Jack threw his head back and laughed, tears of joy in his eyes, "Rose was going to be lost to the Void, Doctor," Jack explained, beaming, triumphant, "Or, to the parallel world on the other side. But that's not the point. She told me how to save her!" he gestured around as though it were the most important thing he could say, "Even fixed this," he held up his wrist to reveal his Vortex Manipulator, working and beeping.

The Doctor frowned, "Who?"

It shouldn't be possible, the only people able to fix a Vortex Manipulator couldn't be from this time or that planet…or at least not the planet at that time. Ooh he was dreading to think there might be another enemy now among them. Jack…well, being a conman, no matter what his last actions were, being a rogue Time Agent, it didn't do much to quell his fears of just how responsible this Manipulator Fixer was. For all he knew the person in question, some woman given how Jack kept shouting 'she' around, was as much trouble as Jack. And…if she knew something like this was going on, did she work for Torchwood? How had she known this was happening? Or that Rose would end up trapped somewhere? Were they a part of this?!

"Well come over here and you'll find out," Jack called, holding out his wrist. The Doctor pushed himself up, making his way over to Jack, helping Rose up as she had shakily fallen to her knees in the shock of surviving that, before he put his hand on the Manipulator with her. Jack grinned widely and slammed his hand down onto it…

~8~

Jack, the Doctor, and Rose appeared in the middle of a small base, 'Torchwood 3' written on the inside of the wall. There was a mass of equipment and weapons scattered around and a rather high-tech computer in the middle of the room. Despite all the equipment and weapons, however, there was only one other person in the room. A woman, sitting before the computer, with her back to them, typing quickly across the keyboard. Her hair was a dark brown and short, her back rigid, her shoulders squared. She was wearing a what appeared to be a pantsuit, from what Rose could see from behind, a black suit with white pinstripes that reminded her quite a bit of the Doctor's style but in black instead of brown. Rose glanced at the Doctor a moment and frowned at his expression.

The Doctor was standing there, his eyes wide as he stared at the woman with a look of shock to them. He felt his breath catch as his senses immediately picked up what sort of species of alien the woman was and not just that, WHO she was as well…but that was impossible.

She couldn't be there…not HER.

It was impossible!

The woman stopped typing for only a moment, her head turning slightly, as though she were about to look at them, as though she too could sense the Doctor as well, her shoulders tensing a moment, before her head faced forward once more and she resumed her typing.

The Doctor blinked rapidly, shaking his head before he opened his mouth to speak, but the woman held up a hand, not even looking back to know he was about to talk, one finger raised in a sigh to wait, "_Just a moment Theta,_" she called in a language neither Jack nor Rose could understand though the tone of her voice was one of business, like a mother not about to be interrupted by her child, or an employee finishing something up before allowing themselves to be distracted.

And the Doctor's hearts stopped as HE recognized it.

It was her. It had to be. It could ONLY be her…but how?!

The woman continued to type a few more seconds, making them wait, before finishing with a satisfied breath, "The time-lock is…well, it has potential Jack," she nodded, speaking more to Jack than them, "With enough time I should be able to recreate it on the computers here. You understand," she rubbed her hands and cracked her fingers, "That it shall take time to make it compatible to human tech, yes?"

"Yeah," Jack nodded, moving away from the frozen Doctor and confused Rose to the woman's side, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder and squeezing it in thanks, not seeing Rose frown at how the Doctor's own hands had morphed into fists though his expression remained largely the same, "I got it. Earth tech, especially in this time zone, are…limited at best."

The woman nodded and took a breath, turning in the chair, Jack moving with her to face them, his hand sliding to the back of the chair as the woman looked at the Doctor, "Hello Doctor," she greeted.

But the Doctor was silent, unable to muster even a word as he just openly stared at her, his mouth hanging open. She was pale, but older, about the age he appeared to be. Her hair was as short as it appeared with her back turned. Her mouth was small, painted red with lipstick, held in a firm line, her nose small, her entire expression radiating neutrality. Her eyes were brown, a deep brown, but there was...there was a haunted quality to them, one he knew was reflected in his own. Everything they'd done, everything they'd seen, the War, what they lost...it would haunt anyone.

The woman let out a sigh and a roll of the eye, as though this were a common thing, "Still catching flies I see?"

THAT seemed to snap the Doctor out of it as his mouth instantly closed, though his eyes were still trained on her. He just…couldn't believe that she was really there, sitting there, right in front of him. And if Jack was to be believed, she had clued him in on saving Rose…Rose!

"_Why did you do that Carah?_" he asked her, serious, his words morphing into the language only those of Gallifrey would know, for this situation, now that his mind was processing it again, was far, FAR too serious for English. If she had done what he thought she had…

He couldn't even being to truly accept that she was there, the magnitude of what it meant, of who she was to him, to wonder how she was even there hadn't hit him yet. It couldn't hit him. Because if it did, he would run to her and pull her into his arms and never let him go and…and he wouldn't be focusing on the rather massive danger they were potentially all in now.

The woman merely blinked, "What, save your human?" she asked, speaking in English, sounding more amused than concerned.

He closed his eyes a moment, feeling a weight hit him in the chest at that. She was being far too carefree about this, not as concerned as she should be. The fact that she was speaking english was a testament to that. That wasn't her, that wasn't his Carah. She was…

"And who the hell are you?" Rose demanded, rather insulted by how the woman had just referred to her as though she were like…a pet or something! She looked at the Doctor, half in shock, just then, she could guess that he'd asked her what she'd done and…from how the woman replied, it almost sounded like he didn't want her to be saved.

"I'm the Judge, dear," the woman, the Judge, spoke with a small grin, before getting up and starting to walk around the computer, picking up some papers and notes.

The Doctor just shook his head, and THAT was why this was wrong, this was so wrong. His Carah, the Judge…it was a promise, their names, the ones they chose, it was a promise to themselves. His was to help, to always help, and take care of people, to save them and heal them. Hers was to uphold the laws, to make the just decisions, to ensure the rules were followed.

They had fought like cats and dogs the first few years they'd known each other because of that particular quirk of her personality. He broke the rules that she was meant to uphold.

And now…what she'd just done? If she really had done what he thought then this was bad. If SHE was breaking the rules…she'd always said that she would die before she broke any of the laws of Gallifrey. And that made his hearts clench so painfully that he had to place a hand to his chest, the full weight of it hitting him.

What Jack had said…she had known that Rose was going to be lost to either the Void or Pete's World. And if she knew that the way that Time Lords did, then she had willingly changed a series of events and, as much as he was loath to admit it, if the loss of Rose was meant to impact him, shape him in some way, then there was every possibility that it had been a fixed point she'd altered. As much as he didn't want to lose Rose…he understood the consequences of altering such a point.

And he knew what would have to be done to allow it to be altered in the first place.

His jaw tightened, "Was it a fixed point?" he looked at her.

She glanced up at him, her short hair hanging in front of her face a moment, too short to be held back, before she looked down again, gathering her notes. Not answering.

The Doctor strode forward, grabbing her by the shoulders and turning her to face him, "Was it a fixed point!?" he shouted at her. He knew what the answer was, he could guess it in how she hadn't said anything, he knew he shouldn't be shouting at her…but he had to know, he needed to be certain of what she had done. HE couldn't see it, being a part of it…but if she saw what became of Rose after the Void, she would know.

She just blinked at him, looking at him for a long while, "Of _course_ it was," she replied quietly, her voice a mere whisper.

The Doctor stumbled back, feeling as though the wind knocked from his stomach. He looked around the room, from Jack's grim face, clearly the man was aware of what the woman had been planning and agreed to it, to Rose, who was looking at him with wide eyes, not understanding just what that meant, for something to be a fixed point in time, ignorant of what would happen when it was changed.

He shook his head and looked back at her, standing before him with the smallest of smiles on her face, and that broke his hearts even more, it was resigned, "Why?" he gaped.

"You would be so sad and pained to lose her," she explained simply, offering a small shrug, "Do you truly think, after all this time, _that's_ what I want?"

His hearts stopped at her words, that…even now…she didn't want him to feel pain like that. Even though he knew she had every right to resent him for what he'd done, for how difficult he'd made her life at first, for all the responsibility he left her with when he ran from Gallifrey. For the war and how he could have stopped it, for the end of Gallifrey (he really did have to ask how she was there), and for all the pains he'd caused her over her life. Yet there she was, telling him that despite that she didn't want this to be the last things she saw him feel, pain.

But it hurt more to realize…she didn't know. She genuinely didn't know just how much pain this would cause him. Because a fixed point had been changed, and there was only one way for it to be maintained without it causing the universe around it to shatter…and he knew, from the look in her eye, that she had taken that step. She had seen what would become of him after Rose was lost (he'd have to ask her how) and she was trying to stop it. But whatever pain she thought she'd seen him in after her loss…would be nothing compared to what was coming for him if he lost HER too.

"No…" he shook his head at her, knowing that his next words would likely hurt Rose, but she didn't understand, the human could barely begin to comprehend what was happening and going to happen and had already happened, "Please…tell me you didn't…"

She had only just started to reach up to touch his face, when she let out a shaking breath and stumbled back, collapsing to her knees and gripping her chest with one hand and she used the other to steady herself from the fall.

He was at her side in an instant, "You didn't," he shook his head, praying now, "Please, please tell me you didn't!"

But he knew, he knew even before she said anything, that she had. _This_ was not the way a fixed point worked when it was altered. Reality should be falling apart…not her…unless…

"I anchored it to me," she wheezed, nodding.

His mouth dropped open at that, even though he knew that was likely what she'd done, the ONLY thing she could have done to explain all this, just hearing it said out loud was killing him. For a Time Lord to anchor a change to a fixed point to them…it meant that they took in all the shifts in time, they centralized it, they drew it to their being, like background radiation…the strain of which would kill them but allow the fixed point to continued as altered.

"Why would you do that?" he held her tightly as her strength gave out and she fell forward, his arms shifting her so she was on her back, cradled in his arms.

Why? Why do this? Why do it now? They were the _last_ of their kind, why would she make him be alone once more?

"I didn't want you to lose someone you love," she reasoned, her voice weak.

"And how is _you_ dying any better?!" he wanted to shake her, but he doubted it would do anything, he could already feel her shaking against him, her skin growing pale.

She just smiled at him sadly, "Because you don't love _me_."

His eyes widened as he stared at her, as though he were stunned she would make such a declaration, "Why…why would you EVER say that?"

"You never said it," she whispered, she swallowed hard, her voice cracking from strain and pain, "Not once," she looked up at him, "Not during the whole of our marriage."

Rose gasped, a hand flying up to cover her mouth at that revelation. This woman, clearly an alien, which she assumed was a Time Lord (or Lady, she supposed)…she'd thought the woman, the Judge, was merely a friend or relative of the Doctor's given their familiarity. But she was wrong. It was so much more than that.

The woman…was his wife!

She knew he was a father, he'd said so before, but…she honestly hadn't considered that he was married. The thought hadn't crossed her mind and, even if it had at some point, the fact remained that he told her he'd destroyed his planet, that they were all dead, that HE was the last person left. Even if he had been married, with the planet gone, she'd just thought that his wife was too…and she felt bile rise in her to think that she'd been trying to pursue the Doctor, thinking him a widow, when his wife was still very much alive and had been keeping tabs on him…had clearly known about HER and where she stuck out in his life.

The Doctor shook his head at the woman in his arms, thinking back to why she was saying that and cursed himself as he realized…she was right. He had, not once, not from the day they were married, actually told her that he loved her. And that killed him because…

He did love her, very much so.

They'd had an arranged marriage on Gallifrey. It was an awkward mess and, truly, HE wasn't even supposed to be the one that married her at first. Arranged marriages had faded out in their culture, but there were contracts from the old families, ones that dated back centuries and countless generations that, sometimes, found the circumstances listed in them come active. His family had been in a blood feud with another millennia ago, and her family had come to be their allies. The cost of the allegiance had been the agreement that their heirs would wed and unite the family lines. But it never worked out. Each generation was either too far spaced apart, one being newly born in one family while the other's last heir was 500 years old or more. Sometimes the heirs were the same gender and, even though Gallifrey, with how they could change gender, the circumstances stated a marriage between the female heir and male heir from the families. It hadn't been till his brother had been born, his elder brother, that the contract activated when her family had her within the age appropriate circumstances lined out in the contract.

The only issue…was that his brother had already fallen in love with another woman. It had been so long between the contract's creation and their generation that it had all but been forgotten till the High Council revealed that the Archivists had brought the contract to their attention. His brother had been so distraught, his love equally so as their future was torn away from them by that revelation. So he had offered himself instead. It was a technicality, but the contract didn't specify the first born heirs, just an heir of the family, which he was, born within the same generation as she was. And he had been.

He had stepped up, stepped into the role. He hadn't had anyone in particular that he saw as a future wife, nor had she any other suitors, so they were left to the contract, and they were wed.

And they had _hated_ each other at first, truly disliked each other for the longest time after that. They bickered and fought and if the contract had left any sort of loophole for divorce they would have jumped on it instantly. But there wasn't, they had been stuck with each other. Eventually they'd actually reached the point of not even speaking to each other, enduring a marriage of silence instead of constant fighting. Fighting was tiring. They had NOTHING in common. He broke the rules, she enforced them. He wanted to explore, she felt stimulated enough on Gallifrey. He rambled on about anything and everything, she was very to the point and factual, saying what she had to say and being done with it.

But then…he'd gotten very ill. A nearby planet had a bout of a deadly plague and a cure had been developed on Gallifrey. He'd volunteered to bring the cure to the people of their neighboring planet and had gone there. The Time Lords should have been immune to it, but in the time it took them to develop the cure it had mutated slightly. It was still easily taken care of with the cure they'd made, but only to the natives. When the Time Lords who went contracted the disease it mutated against their Time Lord DNA, making it something they had no cure for at the time. It wasn't quite as deadly for them as it had been for the natives, but it was still rather dangerous, two of his crew had died from the disease when they'd returned to Gallifrey, luckily it being non-contagious by then, and…

She had been _scared_. He had seen it when she tended to him after he returned to their home, had seen it in her eyes and the shaking of her hands. She wasn't afraid she would contract it…she was genuinely afraid that he would die. She had stayed by his side the entire time, spent all of it nursing him back to health, for months! He'd heard her crying over him when she thought he was too out of it to realize, had heard her apologizing for their fights, even admitting she did care about him and didn't want to lose him. She had grown…comfortable around him, in a way she hadn't realized before, she had grown used to him being there. She had admitted that she didn't want to be alone.

It was then he'd started to respect her, to…care about her. It was when he had felt the first tendrils of something that could start to form as love her as well. After he'd gotten better he'd been more careful in how he treated her, showed her that respect, that thankfulness for her. She could have just let him lie in bed and suffer, let the disease consume him but she'd stayed with him. He'd started to make an effort to get to know her, to understand her, instead of resenting her like he had at first. She refused to leave Gallifrey and, in their culture, if a husband or wife wished to leave the other, even if it meant going somewhere on a trip or adventure, they needed their spouse's approval and blessing. She'd refused to let him just go gallivanting across the universe, refused to go with him. He'd thought it was her way of trapping him like she had been trapped in their contract. But it wasn't so.

He'd gotten to know her and the woman he'd seen…she was beautiful and passionate. Even how she stuck to the rules was endearing to him after a time. Their fighting and bickering turned to teasing, their hesitant touches in public became less forced and more willing. He'd gotten closer to her, had opened up to her, they talked instead of sat in silence, they began to share a bed instead of sleeping in separate rooms. They started to encourage each other. She became…his whole world and it was something they built together, a life they shared. And their children…their children were just a blessing.

In the end…he really did love her. And she had given him her blessing to go out and see the Universe eventually, she had trusted him to come back. And he'd failed her, especially in the war, he'd fled, he'd refused to fight till the very end of it. That had been the one thing that had killed him, during the war, to end it…and know she was on the planet. He'd gone to find her, he'd gone to rescue her, to get her off the planet with their children…but she was gone. The TARDIS couldn't track her down and she should have been able to…if she were still alive. He'd been left with the harsh and brutal reality that she had died, she had to have, there was no way that the TARDIS would fail to track her down unless she'd died. That had been the last lingering tie that kept him from time locking the planet away, his desire not to harm his own family. But when he'd been unable to find them, when the TARDIS had told him their life prints were gone…there was no family to save and nothing holding him back.

He still didn't know how she was there, but that could wait, right now he had to make sure she lived past this to tell him.

"_I thought I proved it,_" he murmured to her, slipping back into Gallifreyan, needing her to know he meant it, reaching out to touch her cheek as he cradled her closer, rocking her slightly, not wanting this to be the last moment he had with her. He _couldn't_ get her back only to lose her in the next instant, "_I thought I proved it in the way I stayed,_" he admitted to her softly, stroking her hair as sweat began to break out on her brow, "_In how I never strayed, in how I worshipped you…_" he blushed a bit at that last admission, but he just needed her to focus, to focus on him, to keep conscious, "_I DID love you Carah._"

She smiled at him, tears in her eyes, "_Then I'm glad I got to…hear it at…at least once b…before_…" her eyes started to flutter closed, her words slurring.

The Doctor shook her fiercely, "_Carah_!" he shouted, trying to wake her, he couldn't lose her. Not again. His mind raced, trying to think up some way to help her. But the only way to do it was to set the events of the fixed point back on track and it was too late to send Rose to the parallel world and…he turned to Jack, "What did she tell you!?" he nearly screamed in English.

"What?" Jack frowned, shaking his head, not sure what he meant.

"About my future," he said quickly, gently placing the Judge on the ground and standing, spinning to Jack and grabbing him by the lapels.

"Doctor!" Rose gasped, startled at how he was acting.

But the Doctor ignored her, focusing on Jack, "She must've told you something! Something about what happened after I lost Rose."

Jack shook his head, "Um," he tried to think, "She…she said something about a supernova and a ginger in a wedding dress…"

The Doctor nodded at that, it was a long shot, but it might work.

"Rose, come on!" he shouted, leaping into action and grabbing Jack's Manipulator. He soniced it and slammed his hand down on it the moment Rose had joined them, the three of them teleporting out as the Judge's head lulled to the side.

~8~

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Judy," Jack's grinning face came into view as the Judge slowly woke.

She groaned and closed her eyes again, pressing her hand to her head, not sure if her headache was a result of Jack's incessant need to call her Judy after the famed judge he secretly loved to watch on the telly, or because she now knew that the Doctor had likely gone and done something stupid as she was now awake and not having passed on in her sleep.

She frowned as she looked at her hand, seeing wisps of orange regeneration energy drifting over it. She tried to sit up, realizing that the soreness she felt rushing through her was post-regenerative, whatever the Doctor had died hadn't managed to save her but merely trigger her regeneration.

"Ow," she moaned, rubbing her head only for Jack to kneel beside her and help her sit up on the small cot she'd been placed on, "What did he do?" she looked at Jack, a small frown on her face.

Jack absently reached out and handed her a small mirror to look at, knowing that she would likely want to know what she looked like now that she had regenerated. She was a little taller than she had been, a bit more slim and less…stiff, she'd always had an air of no-nonsense to her before and while she still seemed very focused, it was a little less so than before. Her hair was longer, falling in layers, a lighter brown than it had been. Her eyes a lighter color, more blue now, her face softer than before as well.

She sighed, spotting herself in the mirror and shook her head, looking at Jack, "Jack," she repeated.

"Sorry," he shook himself out of his thoughts. She had told him what regeneration was like, he hadn't been shocked to see the Doctor looking differently than before because of it, though the Doctor didn't exactly seem shocked that he was alive either, it was just…hearing about regeneration was one thing, seeing it was another, that blast of orange gold swirling energy shooting out of her just as the TARDIS set down again…that was something, the room had been a little on fire at the end of it and he'd rushed to grab the extinguishers as the Doctor picked her up and moved her, "The Doctor took me and Rose to the supernova you mentioned," he explained, "Met a woman called Donna Noble on her way to her wedding, encountered pilot fish robots dressed as Santa Clauses, oh, and the Empress of the Racnoss," she nodded as though that all made perfect sense, "Seems we set the timeline just enough back into place that it restores the events after Rose would have been lost."

She shook her head and looked up at where the Doctor was eyeing her intently from beside Rose, the two of them standing before the TARDIS just on the other side of the room, only feet away from her, "Only you could meet the empress of an extinct race," she remarked to the Doctor, standing up with Jack reaching out tentatively to help her if she stumbled, but she was fine.

"Why did you do that Judge?" he asked her, a deep frown on his face, "Why would you anchor the timeline to you?"

She raised an eyebrow at that, "Careful, you almost sound disappointed that it saved your human."

Jack felt himself smile, this her seemed a little more sarcastic and snarky than the last her had been.

"There are 7 billion humans on the planet," the Doctor countered, "There are only 2 of us. Why would you want to leave me alone?" his voice cracked and he didn't even notice Rose flinch at that, at the reminder of how 'common' she was, that she was rated as just another human instead of his first companion since the war.

The Judge gave him a look though, "You left me first."

"You gave me your blessing," he reminded her.

"And you broke your promise to come back and stay," she finished, "You said you would come home again, once you'd seen enough and now?" she shrugged, "There is no home to come back to."

The Doctor nodded solemnly at that, unable to counter that. He didn't have to ask her how she was even there anymore. Jack had told him while she'd slept off the first hour of the regeneration. She'd had a TARDIS, she'd stolen one just as he had, at the end of the war. She'd seen what he was planning to do and…he didn't know, perhaps she'd been coming to stop him but missed him and the planet was destroyed. He hadn't been able to find her because her TARDIS was in perfect working order, it had been a WAR TARDIS she'd stolen, highly shielded, invisible to other TARDISes. He probably would have found her had it not been for her attempt to follow him to Earth. The WAR TARDISes could only remain that shielded for an hour or two at most. He would have picked her up after that…but she'd been shot down by Torchwood, just as Yvonne had said, if it was alien they it was theirs and they'd blasted her out of the sky. She'd ended up regenerating in the fallout, as a result of the crash, and once she'd come around she'd managed to work her way into Yvonne's sect, managed to gain access to where the remains of her TARDIS were…and destroyed all of it to keep them from taking the parts of it for their creations.

They'd ruled her as hostile and called Jack in to handle her, to bring her to Torchwood 3 in Cardiff and hold her there. They'd wanted to focus on the Ghost Shift and would deal with her after. Jack had listened to her when she'd told him what the Ghost Shift really was and they'd been trying to contain it from there. When they'd failed, she'd told him about what was going to happen to Rose. In her quest to try and find him, she'd ended up in different times, in the future. She'd been there, off to the side, invisible when he'd set the TARDIS down after he and Donna Noble first landed back on Earth. She'd been there at a handful of other points in the future as well, his next two companions apparently, had seen the fallout of how he was without Rose and, when she'd tried to go back early enough to warn him without damaging the timelines…she'd been shot down when her invisibility failed. The WAR TARDISes were not a cylindrical craft that the normal TARDISes were like when uncloaked, but were rather like an actual war ship.

She'd been trying to stop the Ghosts, but had failed so she'd taken it upon herself to try and save Rose for him, and succeeded there. She had planned to succeed if it was the last thing she'd done, to give him one last comfort…and she'd done it.

"Come with me," he said suddenly, serious, looking at her intently.

Her lip quirked in the side in a small, resigned smirk, "No," she shook her head, shocking him. He opened his mouth to argue but she held up a hand, "It would get too complicated."

He snorted, "When have _I_ ever _not_ been complicated?"

"This is different Doctor," she remarked.

He frowned, "How so?"

The Judge merely glanced at Rose whose eyes widened in realization, "The king's wife…and the king's girlfriend…" she murmured, "And this isn't France."

"A clever human," the Judge mused, "Who knew they existed."

"Hey," Jack rolled his eyes, seemingly used to her lack of interest in humans, "I resent that statement."

"You would," she mocked.

The Doctor just swallowed hard, "You're…you're staying here then? With…with him?" his eyes flickered to Jack.

The Judge nodded solemnly, "You had a human around to heal you, Doctor," she reminded him, "I think it is my turn."

Jack stepped closer and put his arm around her shoulders, "I'll take care of her Doc, I swear."

The Doctor just looked at the Judge a long while, before nodding, unable to bring himself to say anything, not trusting himself not to open his mouth and beg her to come, even knowing it wasn't what she wanted. So he did the only thing he could, turn and enter the TARDIS and send the box away.

"_Goodbye Theta,_" he heard behind him, and closed his eyes a moment, wondering if this...this pain was what she felt each time he left her, this pain that felt like she wanted to be away from him, like she didn't want him there, like they were back at the start of their marriage where they just wanted to be as far away from each other as possible. Was this how he had made her feel? He hoped not.

It was just as hard, he realized, as the first time…leaving his wife behind just for his adventures. But this time it wasn't for his enjoyment, but for her sake. She was right. He had had time to heal. She hadn't. She needed this…and he would give it to her.

They were Time Lords, she could have as much time as she needed.

He owed her that at the very least.

~8~

The Doctor rubbed his head as he stood on the great pyramid of Egypt.

It had been one hell of an adventure for him up to this point. He and Rose had gone off on their adventures, leaving…leaving the Judge behind with Jack in Torchwood as she insisted. But Rose became very…distant during that time, so he'd thought to bring another companion, a friend for her, one Martha Jones. But that got very complicated very quickly as Rose kept distancing herself from him and Martha kept trying to get closer to him and neither girl seemed to really get on with the other. Rose didn't like how Martha was close to him, Martha didn't like how Rose used to be close to him and it just got really…just a mess. Eventually Martha chose to leave and they'd encountered Donna Noble once more. She'd been fantastic, just what the doctor ordered…er…no pun intended. Rose started to come back a bit, acting more like her old carefree self eager for adventure but she still seemed to not want to get too close to him. Not that he wanted the sort of closeness that they'd had near the end of their time alone together, it was just…it was like she looked at him like he was just her taxi driver instead of, well, a friend, and that was what was hurting him.

And then Rose's mother had appeared during a Dalek invasion, had crossed the different worlds to get back to her daughter…and Rose had chosen to go back with the woman. She'd told him before he left her in Pete's World after they'd stopped the Daleks, she'd finally told him what had been bothering her so much. It was that she could see it in her mother just as she could in him, even with their spouse dead, they never really got over it. Even when he thought that his wife had died, there was still some part of him that loved her and couldn't let her go, it was evidenced enough by his reaction, his desperation to save her, his invitation for her to stay with them, how he acted towards her as well, like they were back to being the companion/pilot they had been when she first joined him. She had wanted more and hated herself for wanting it, so she pushed it away. She could never ever be with a married man and she didn't want to take the Judge's place in his hearts the same way she never wanted another man to take Pete's in her mum's. She'd stayed with him that long because she knew that the Judge wouldn't keep with him and she'd clearly thought that Donna would be there with him, like the friend he truly needed, a human with a Time Lord mind, the result of a rather bad metacrisis. But that had failed, he'd had to erase Donna's mind, leaving him all alone.

He'd gone off on his own, trying to reconnect with the Judge, wanting to be with her now that there were no companions to make her feel like she was losing him, hoping that the years with Torchwood would give her enough time to heal. But she was set in helping Torchwood and they had issues of their own to deal with, she refused to abandon them. So he'd pop in for holidays, come to Earth and check in on her. She was doing well and he hoped that would mean she'd be willing to travel with him again. But then the Master had appeared and he'd begged Jack to take her with him when he'd left Earth for a little while after an incident with some alien called the 456. He'd wanted her off world when the Master was lurking about, hadn't wanted him to find out that she was there. The Master knew of her in passing, they'd met briefly, he'd been his good friend at one point so it was only right that he meet his wife, but that was really all the contact they'd had. He didn't want the man to use her as leverage as he nearly had when he'd taken over as Saxon. The Judge had stayed with Torchwood when Jack came to join him for that trip, the Archangel Network blocking her from the Master as equally as he was blocked from them. She'd been subtly helping Martha find transport and ways out all around the world then. His eyes and ears on the ground, the extra boost that the psychic field needed to break him out of the Master's control over the planet.

He'd seen her in a bar with Jack, an alien bar, but she hadn't seen him. She'd regenerated again. It seemed like each time he saw her there was a different version of her. She must have regenerated at least three times since he'd left her with Jack. He should have been angry that she'd been harmed at some point so severely that she'd regenerated, but she seemed happier. He hadn't wanted to dampen her spirits, so he'd left Jack with a slip of paper for Alonzo, a young man he'd met on a replica of the Titanic and gone off on his own…

He'd regenerated then, became his current self, his 11th. And then came the Ponds 1 and 2 and the Pandorica and the Silence and their genetically manipulated daughter, River Song, which was why he was standing on the pyramid, on the fourth of April, at 5:02 pm, the same time and day as always since time had frozen all thanks to River and her attempts to save him from a fate not even she understood.

He sighed, his hand sliding down from his forehead to rub his eyes, "River, River, why do you had have to be this? Melody Pond..." he looked at Amy and Rory, Pond 1 and 2 as they stood to the side, "Your daughter. I hope you're both proud."

"I'm not sure I completely understand…" Rory admitted, frowning at Amy.

"We got married, and had a kid, that's her," Amy replied simply.

Rory, for what it was worth, blinked, "Ok."

The Doctor shook his head, closing his eyes a moment, he didn't want to do this, but he needed help, "You've left me no choice," the Doctor remarked. River stepped back, half expecting him to try and grab her again when he shifted and turned, but instead he held out a hand to Amy, "Amy I need the comm. in your sleeve," Amy's eyes widened, not having thought he'd noticed that. But she quickly pulled it out and tossed it over to him, watching him intently. He quickly scanned it with the sonic before looking at River, "I know what you want River, I know what you need to be able to let me go, to be able to help me make time resume. You need a connection to me, you need me to know how loved I am before I go. You need me to see the greatest expression of love that a woman can give a man…and that's just it. Because, to me, that is marriage, that is the truest and greatest symbol of love. And I can't do that. I can't give you that bond. I can't marry you. I literally cannot."

"Why not?" River asked, tears coming to her eyes, she hadn't thought of it like that but now that he mentioned it…yes, it did make sense. The greatest promise and example of love, the greatest pledge of it, the only way she'd know that he was aware of how much he was loved, would be if he married her right then and realized she loved him so much she would happily be his wife.

He just turned on the comm..

"And _you_ were cross with _me_ for tethering Rose's timeline to myself?" a woman's voice came through the link. It was an alto voice, sounding slightly amused, slightly reprimanding, and sounding entirely different than the last voice he'd heard of her in the bar, making the Doctor wince as he realized she'd regenerated yet again, "Naughty boy," the voice laughed.

The Doctor sighed, "I need you to teleport here with Jack's Manipulator."

"Can't," she sighed, sounding like she was shrugging, "Doesn't work if time isn't working."

He closed his eyes, nodding to himself at the logic, "Yes, well, if anyone can figure it out, it would be you. I like to think I, and Torchwood, taught you enough tricks over the years."

"That is true," the woman paused a moment as though considering the challenge, and the sound of a sonic began to whirr a second later, "Where are you?"

"Area 52 on top of the Great Pyramid."

The sonic stopped, "Tell me you're joking."

"Would that I were."

"I should expect this from you," the woman sighed, "Be there in a mo."

The comm. disconnected and the Doctor tossed it back to Amy who frowned, looking at the Doctor, seeing that even River appeared confused as to who that was, "Who was that?" she asked.

The Doctor opened his mouth to answer when there was a crackle of light behind him. He turned around, his mouth dropping open as he spotted her, a new her, most certainly a regenerated version. She was a brunette again, her hair a dark brown, wavy, falling just a little below her shoulders. Her face was round and pale, with cheekbones when she smiled or smirked (as she was doing now), her eyes dark. She was wearing a dark blue top with a black fitted leather jacket and black pants and boots. He could tell, just from the way she was dressed and how she was standing, more at ease, her hands in her back pockets, that she was nearing the place of healing. She reminded him of himself now, though without his wild tendencies for she was able to stand still and look at him where as he'd be fidgeting and flapping his hands about.

"Hello husband," was her greeting and even the sound of her voice was lighter, more…playful but not in a lighthearted way. It was more like…a reckless streak in her, if her leather jacket was anything to go by.

He sighed and looked at River, "That's why," he told her before turning back to the woman, "Hello wife," he glanced at the Ponds, "Ponds, meet the Judge, Judge…meet Ponds 1 and 2, Amy and Rory, their um…daughter River."

The Judge nodded at them before focusing on the Doctor, "Now, what seems to be the problem you've gotten yourself into this time?" she asked, moving to cross her arms, her eyebrow raised in near-amusement.

He took a breath, "Well, first, promise not to kill me."

She rolled her eyes at him, "If I didn't let you die of that wretched plague, I'd think you would be safe," she reminded him.

"Right, yes," he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck, not quite sure how to act around her still, this was…this was really the first time he was near her without Jack or one of Torchwood there with her, "Well, you see," he clapped his hands, "The Silence think I'm meant to die on a lakeside in Utah at this exact moment and that River here," he gestured at her, the woman staring wide eyed and slightly heartbroken at the Judge, "Is meant to be my executioner by dressing up in an astronaut suit and shooting me dead, but River refused to do it and fired at the ground and now a fixed point's been altered and I'm not quite keen to tie it to you or I and all of time is happening at once because River refuses to try and cancel out the reaction and let time resume its normal course."

The Judge blinked at him, and blinked again, "Have you any idea how ridiculous that sounds?" she had to ask.

"A very good one actually."

She shook her head, "So why don't you just grab her?" she gestured at River, "She's human, they're quite slow."

"Well, here's another thing…she's part Time Lord."

The Judge looked at River, considering her, before shaking her head, "I don't see it, sorry," she shrugged at River before focusing on the Doctor, "I also don't see why you called me here."

"River wanted to make a grand display of love so that I'd feel it and try to not off myself at the lake."

"Right," she nodded slowly, "Well then River should understand divorce doesn't exist on Gallifrey, so you can't marry her, which she would know if she were actually a Time Lord instead of a mutated human…"

"Oi!" Amy cried, outraged that the woman would call her daughter that.

But the Judge just kept on, "And, if she _did_ know you more than as just the target for a murder, she would realize that you're always a step ahead of others and that not-dying is your main thing. So why doubt you now?"

He smiled at her, "Still have that unwavering faith in me?"

"Well you did survive a deadly plague," she shrugged, "Must have quite a stubborn streak in you. Who am I to deny that when I've seen it in action?"

"Usually the first in line," he laughed.

She smiled a little at that and glanced at River, "Are you going to get on with this or shall we force you?"

"You can't make me kill him," River shook her head, finally coming out of her shock.

The Judge just nodded a bit at that, before she pulled a gun from the back of her belt, "You don't have to be alive for this to work you know," and aimed it at River whose eyes widened.

"Hold on!" Amy tried to rush forward, but Rory held her back, "You're his WIFE!" she pointed at the Doctor, as though that were reason enough for her to not have a gun or use it.

"Yes, and I've also been working for Torchwood the last few years," she added, her eyes on River who seemed completely flabbergasted that she was drawing a gun on her, the Doctor just rubbing his bowed head at all this, "We have quite a lot of guns. I've gotten used to them. And, as the Doctor said, I am the Judge, it's my sacred duty to uphold the laws of Gallifrey and the rules of time, something my husband lacks the ability to do it appears. I will do whatever is necessary to see the timelines restored. Now, if you don't mind?" she nodded her head at the Doctor, gesturing River on with her gun.

The Doctor held out a hand to River for her to take. He knew that the Judge wouldn't really shoot River, not at all, no matter what incarnation she was, she wouldn't kill someone. But…this was very much like her, in a way. She was tasked, on Gallifrey, to uphold the laws and rules of time and right now River was breaking quite a lot of them. It was why he'd asked her there, he was sure she realized, because she would make it seem like SHE would do anything to set the rules in place again where as they knew he was more than willing to break them.

River swallowed hard, looking at the gun and over to the Judge's smiling face, utterly calm, and to the Doctor who gave her an encouraging nod. She eyed his hand a moment, thinking about what he'd said, what the Judge had said, that the Doctor was always ahead of his enemies, he always had a plan, he never tried for death but fought against it. For him to be there and be willing and trying to get her to reset time so that she would kill him…it HAD to mean that he had a plan now as well, that he wouldn't die or be injured if she did take his hand.

She had to trust him because the Judge was right…she didn't know him as anything more than her target, she could study him all she wanted, but she hadn't spent all that much time around him, she wouldn't know him and what he was truly capable of, how his mind worked.

She had to take this leap of faith.

So she reached out…and took his hand, the world around them turning white as time resumed and separated from the past, present and future, leaving her on the side of a lake, in an astronaut suit, firing at the Doctor's chest mid-regeneration, killing him.

~8~

The Doctor stopped short as he stepped out of the doorway to the Seventh Transept, where the Headless Monks kept the heads of their more wealthy patrons, where he was setting Dorium Maldovar's head back in its proper place. He could still hear echoes of the man's shouts following him, crying 'Doctor Who!?' behind him because that was it. That was the First Question, the one that must never be answered, the one that the Silence never wanted him to state, the one he'd been trying to discover for ages now.

But he didn't stop short because of that, because of the question, but because of the person standing before him, leaning casually against the corner of the TARDIS, her arms crossed, her legs crossed, smirking at him.

"Hello wife," he greeted.

"Hello husband," she nodded in return as he stepped closer to her, moving to lean on the door of the TARDIS, on his side, facing her, making her shift to her side as well to face him back. He opened his mouth to speak but she held up a hand, "I'm not here to stay," she told him, answering the question she knew he wanted to ask, she could practically hear it echoing in her mind from his, "I was just checking to make sure that your plan worked. What was it? Ganger? Hologram? Robot?"

"Robot," he nodded, "Near enough, Teselecta. Doctor was on the lakeside, Doctor died, never said which Doctor it had to be," he grinned, looking at her intently, "Thank you, for your help. I…I didn't know how to get her to cancel out the reaction. Me spouting on about the rules and consequences didn't seem to be working."

"Because you care for neither and they know it," she remarked, taking a deep breath, "That was why we fought so much in the beginning."

"And why we worked so well in the end," he reminded her, lifting his hand as though he wanted to tap her nose, she was a good head shorter than him this time, but he refrained, lowering it again. His small smile started to fall, "You…really won't stay?"

She shook her head, "Torchwood has suffered, Theta," she told him, "I just…I can't leave them now."

He nodded, "You never could abandon the people you care about," he swallowed, "Wish I were more like that."

"You were there when it counted," she reassured him, "And…I will be there when you need me as well."

"I need you now," he murmured, "I always needed you," he spoke softly, "The Ponds…they think I'm dead, it was the only way to keep them safe. The world has to think I'm dead and…" he let out a long breath, "Even if the Ponds didn't…I think they want to leave. I think they want their normal lives back and…Amy, Amelia, she was…well, when she was 7 and I, well I just regenerated and she...she was..."

"The first face you saw?" she guessed and he nodded, "It's always harder to leave them behind, like with Rose," he winced at the reminder but nodded again, "So you see why I can't just leave Jack either."

He nodded mutely at that, the two of them falling silent for a long while, half of him glad that she'd had someone there the times she'd died, but the other half hating that it had been Jack and not him, that _Jack_ had gotten a chance to build a relationship, even if it was platonic friendship, with her instead of him rebuilding the shambles that was left of their marriage.

"I'll make you a deal," she began, pulling him out of his thoughts and making him look at her hopeful, "When you reveal yourself to the Ponds again, because let's face it, you're rubbish at keeping secrets," he opened his mouth and pointed at her like he was about to say something before nodding to himself and dropping his finger, "IF they do decide to stay on Earth, to…start their normal lives…then yes, I will travel with you again."

He looked at her with a soft smile, "You will?"

She nodded, "I will."

He reached out to touch her face but stopped himself, moving down to take her hand instead, "Thank you."

She smiled and squeezed his hand before stepping back, "See you then, Theta," she winked at him before slapping her wrist, still walking backwards and disappearing in a flash of light from Jack's Manipulator.

He felt his smile grow, "See you then, Carah," he nodded to himself before he full on beamed and turned to rush into the TARDIS, disappearing into the Vortex, hope in his hearts once more.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter :) I've been waiting to use 'the Judge' as a title since...wow, the Professor lol. I was actually debating calling Proffy 'the Judge' but the way I saw someone with that title being, they'd be very by the rules and lawful and neither Proffy (nor Evy, Angel, or even really Mac) fit that ideal...2 years later and I finally got to use it :) We'll be learning more about the Judge and her marriage/relationship with the Doctor as the series goes on as well as what sort of potential 'process' I have in mind to describe the two of them (like Linking/Bonding/Mating/Chosens-Contracted in my other stories). I hope I was able to make the 3 incarnations of the Judge that we see here different enough where you could tell it was a different personality coming through. I won't say a word but we'll have to wait and see tomorrow whether the Judge will regenerate again or if she'll still be on her current incarnation.

I can say that 1. We'll find out what number incarnation the Judge is on tomorrow (which will help us backtrack and see which incarnations appear here). 2. We'll find out how old the Judge is during 'A Town Called Mercy,' 3. Her theme song will be announced around the Snowmen chapter, just to give a sense of who she is. and 4. Even though the last incarnation of the Judge we see is willing to use a gun, doesn't mean all the others will be ;)

Just to help, since it was slightly all over the place, we saw 3 incarnations of the Judge, but missed 3 more while she was at Torchwood. There'll be more of an identification for the incarnations tomorrow ;) I'll also be posting a set of her incarnation pictures on my tumblr tomorrow as well to help picture them with actresses that are as close as I can see them in my head for the different Judges ;)

We will also get the cover tomorrow as well ;)


	2. Asylum of the Daleks - Part 1

Asylum of the Daleks - Part 1

The Doctor was not a happy man as he was led through the halls of a Dalek ship, one Dalek before him and one behind, urging him on. Of all the places he'd been in the last 100 years or so this was the last one he wanted to be in. Ever since Lake Silencio, since his supposed 'death' he'd been trying to keep to the shadows, had spent the time trying to delete himself from every scrap of information and reference in the Universe...which was a lot of work, to be honest, he hadn't been expecting that he'd made quite THAT much of an influence on things, but, then again, he did have centuries of time travel under his belt, he'd gotten into quite a few pickles and been a part of quite a few historical events. He'd managed to avoid the earth though, had spent his time in every other location for...too long, till he'd ended up hearing tell of an alien enemy coming to Earth and had gone to stop it...ended up crashing to Earth in a spacesuit he'd had on backwards and meeting a lovely woman named Madge Arwell. Got into a bit of a bind with her and her children on Androzani, had saved a forest from acid rain, and reunited a family, all in a day's work really. But the woman had been the push he'd needed to go see the Ponds and tell them that he was still alive...only to find out that River had beaten him to it.

He was rather cross about that, the whole point of his escapade in the Teselecta had been to fool everyone about his death.

Still, he'd been back in the Ponds' lives, worrying about them as usual...and now he was even more so, because he'd heard the Daleks speaking when he woke up about how the two companions had been acquired. Of course, it could mean any of his past companions, but something in his gut told him it was Amy and Rory. He'd gotten a psychic message from some woman, Darla...something, and gone to meet her at the coordinates, mostly because it was for Skaro, the homeworld of the Daleks and any woman that ended up there must truly need his help. He'd shown up, the woman going on about how her daughter was trapped in a Dalek Camp...and realized too late it was a trap. The Dalek Camps hadn't existed since the war and if they'd started up again he would certainly have heard of it and put a stop to them. He'd been knocked out, Darla had been a Dalek puppet, complete with an eyestalk in her forehead and a laser in her hand, and he'd been captured. He'd only woken up there moments ago and was demanded that he follow the Daleks out.

As he neared a small doorway, he could hear Rory speaking from within, confirming his fears that it was him and Amy that had been taken as well, "...how much trouble are we in?"

"How much trouble, Mr. Pond?" he spoke as the door slid open and he stepped in, seeing Amy and Rory standing there uncomfortably and he knew, sadly, that it was likely NOT because of the massive amount of Dalek saucers drifting outside the narrow windows lining the walls, "Out of ten? Eleven."

"Oh I rather think it's worse than that," a voice spoke behind him.

The Doctor nearly jumped as he spun around, the door opening once more and another set of Daleks entered, leading a woman with straight, dark brown hair into the room. Her hair fell to a little lower than her chin, just brushing her shoulders, parted on the side. Her eyes were dark brown as well, her skin so pale it almost made her hair and eyes look black when it was just a very deep brown. Her lips were pale as they quirked into a small, uncomfortable smile as she eyed him. He let his gaze travel over her for a moment, taking her in. She was tall, about his height he'd guess, slim, wearing a yellow tanktop with a fitted, blue, plaid long sleeved shirt over it that was unbuttoned, the sleeves pushed up to her elbows. Her pants were a dark blue jean, slim, with fashionable grey ankle boots.

"Doctor," she greeted as she moved closer to him, the Daleks parting to allow her into the room more.

"Judge," he returned the greeting, shaking his head slightly as he saw her standing there before him, clearly having been captured as well, which alarmed him as they shouldn't have had any record of her being there but the Daleks...they were ruthless, and he knew they would extract anyone that they would be able to use against him.

He swallowed hard, trying to smile as he observed the new her. Her arms were hanging by her sides, but rubbing against the sides of her legs as well in what appeared to be...not quite nerves but more not knowing what to do with her hands, a trait he hadn't seen from her before. He could already tell from her stance and how her gaze flittered around the room, from how she had greeted him by title instead of 'husband' that this was going to be another different personality for her.

He couldn't stop himself though, from reaching out and curling the end of her brown hair around a finger, "Brown again?" he had to smile at that. Every incarnation he'd seen of her, and he'd seen...nearly all of them he'd guess...were all brunettes, every single one had some shade of brown hair, but it was always brown hair. Her eyes changed, yes, but her hair, well, if she kept that up she would never be ginger...which meant he'd have a better chance of being ginger before her which was nice.

"Always," she gave him a smile and a shrug for it, though she seemed curious as well as to why that was, why she was always a brunette no matter what triggered her regenerations.

"What's this then?" he eyed her, "Your 10th?"

He'd seen 3 different incarnations of her on Gallifrey, then the one on Earth when the Cybermen and Daleks invaded, followed by another when he reset the timelines. Then he'd glimpsed three more incarnations of her in Torchwood before the last incarnation he'd seen on top of the pyramid. And, clearly, she'd regenerated once more.

Her smile started to fall, becoming more sad as she shook her head, "Not quite."

He stared at her, his own expression morphing into alarm, "Don't...please don't tell me this is your 13th," he swallowed hard. That would mean...that would mean this was her last incarnation, that...that if she died there would be no more. He didn't know what alarmed him more, that thought of how permanent losing her could be (and feeling very hypocritical for that given how many regenerations he himself had left) or that he'd missed 3 other bodies of her if it was.

"I'm on my...well," she took a deep breath, "14th."

He blinked at her, and blinked again, "Your...14th?"

She nodded slowly, "Yes. The um...the one in Egypt was my 12th, actually."

"But...how?!" he shook his head, not understanding. 13 bodies, that was ALL they had, or all they naturally had. 12 regenerations, 13 incarnations, that was how it worked unless...

"The High Council granted me another set," she offered, brushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, that was another thing he'd noticed, none of her incarnations ever tied her hair back, it was always free...something he had rather loved when he'd been on Gallifrey.

"Why?" he just...couldn't fathom why they would off her something like that.

She bit the inside of her cheek for a moment, hesitating to speak, "The Master wasn't exactly Plan A in trying to escape the Moment," she told him, "He was always second best, wasn't he?"

He winced at that, hearing the sympathy in her voice as well. They had been such good friends growing up, but...the older they got the more competitive the Master had gotten. HE had always been in it for fun, but the Master wanted to be the better of the two of them. Somehow it had morphed from competition to rivalry to jealousy to wanting to prove himself as better than the wonderful Doctor and eventually reached the point of just wanting him gone. Their friendship had been ruined and the Master had just lost it near the end, had begun to target him, plot against him. That was...one reason that he hadn't come back to Gallifrey to stay as he'd promised her he would, because the Master wouldn't hesitate to use them against him and the more he was away from Gallifrey, the more he could lure the Master after him and away from them.

"YOU were Plan A?" his mouth fell open at that.

"They knew you were planning to use it, they tried to send me after you, to talk you down from it," she gave him a sad smile, "Plan B was the Master and..."

"And what?"

"Plan C...was to kill you before you could try it, which explains why I accepted Plan A," she looked down a moment and then back up at him, "They granted me an extra set of lives incase I died in the process of trying to find you."

He started nodding slowly at that. The war had been a literal hell, nothing was safe, nothing at all, so many people were lost and then, with time travel, were saved only to die again later. It made sense the High Council would grant her an extra regeneration cycle instead of just keep track of her and save her with time travel, they had resources to put elsewhere than to follow her around. He closed his eyes a moment though, that meant...he hadn't missed just 3 incarnations of her, but 4. Her last self, he'd missed her, and probably 3 others on Gallifrey. He shook his head, feeling bile rise up in him that the High Council would try to use his wife against him like that...because they had to know that he would have stopped, he would have stopped his plans if she had reached him.

"You didn't succeed," he murmured, opening his eyes to look at her.

She gave him a solemn look in return, "Gallifrey is gone," as though that were all the answer he needed.

"How did you get here?" he asked instead, not wanting to think of that.

It wasn't her fault, it was HIS. HE should have been there, on Gallifrey, with her, protecting her and their children from the Council. He shouldn't have kept away for as long as he had. She wouldn't have been tasked with something like that. She never should have been burdened with the guilt of what happened on Gallifrey. Because while it had been HIS choice to do what he had, and it was his guilt to carry, the Council, in ordering her to stop him, had put equal guilt on her that she hadn't been able to. Now, Gallifrey was both their faults, him for his choice and her for her failure.

"I dunno," she shrugged, glancing around again, seeing the Daleks were eyeing them intently while the Ponds seemed to be trying to stand as far apart from each other as they could without actually standing too far apart from each other and listening in on their conversation, watching her, which she expected as they'd only met once before, "I was walking back to my flat and ran into one of the other renters and the next thing I knew I was waking up here."

She didn't bother to add in that she'd been shot at by the Dalek laser sticking out of the 'other renter's' hand, right into the wall behind her, and heard, 'The Doctor's wife has been acquired!' ringing out before she'd lost consciousness.

He let out a breath at that and ran a hand through his floppy hair, making her lips quick slightly at how floppy it was, before he looked at her again, "I'm sorry about that."

She nodded slightly, "Yes, well, two Time Lords dealing with a horde of Daleks is better than one," she tried to keep it light but he could hear the strain in her words, she didn't have fond memories of the Daleks either.

He reached for her hand, wanting to comfort her and she gave him a tentative smile for it, squeezing his hand once before she almost shyly stepped away, moving her hands to rub the sides of the tops of her thighs as she tried to look around. He frowned at that, at how she'd moved away from him. She hadn't flinched, she hadn't outright pulled back...but she hadn't let the touch linger. And while he knew that it had been...more years than he cared to remember, both on his end and hers, that they had been as close as they once were, the fact that she pulled back upset him.

He opened his mouth to ask her what was wrong or to apologize...when the ceiling above them began to open with a mechanical whir, a circular pattern moving out from the center as the floor began to rise, lifting them up...and right in the middle of an auditorium of sorts, surrounded by thousands of Daleks of all different marks and styles and versions. There was only one out of its case, revealing the mutant that typically hid within, encased in glass off to the side, its one blinking eye staring at them.

"Where are we?" Amy swallowed hard, knowing just how dangerous the Daleks could be, "Spaceship, right?"

"No," the Judge remarked, "We're on a movie set in front of a greenscreen."

The Doctor gave a small smile at that even as Amy narrowed her eyes at her for it, that was one thing that hadn't changed, from what he'd seen of her, his wife was...well she didn't quite see the point in humans. She seemed to get on well enough with Jack, with the others of Torchwood when they'd been around, but she was rather...less than impressed with them. She was also not much a fan of when others asked questions with rather obvious answers. That had been her biggest irritation on Gallifrey and...he had to admit, he was a little relieved to see at least one thing that hadn't really changed all that much. Truly though, where else could they be but a spaceship given that they were floating in the middle of space with other ships around them?

"Not just any spaceship," he countered, giving the Judge a look that said 'please play nice,' before he focused on Amy, "The Parliament of the Daleks. Be brave."

Amy nodded and straightened, "What do we do?"

"Aim for the eyestalks," the Judge remarked, keeping her gaze on the exposed Dalek.

The Doctor, who had opened his mouth to reply himself, turned to her with a frown, "Don't tell me you've got a gun on you."

"No," she sighed, almost sounding sad about that, "This me wasn't very...fond of them, not like the other mes. Things have calmed down a bit with Torchwood lately, ever since that wretched Miracle Day."

He nodded, pleased with that though he didn't like how she was tensing, like she was expecting an attack and had wished she had a gun with her. He tried not to take it personally, to take it as a sign that she didn't feel safe at the moment. Well, of course no one in their right mind WOULD feel safe when surrounded by Daleks like this...but he couldn't help but feel like it was more than that. Like she didn't feel safe around HIM, like she didn't trust him as much as she once had.

"Then what do we do?" Amy repeated, if they had no weapons, what then?

"Make them remember you," the Doctor told her, before stepping away from them, addressing the Parliament, "Well come on then. You've got me! What are you waiting for? At long last, it's Christmas!" he held his arms out, "Here I am!" and closed his eyes.

"Doctor what ARE you doing!?" the Judge shouted at him, displeasure in her voice, he was clearly as rash as he'd always been, something she wasn't particularly fond of.

"Save us," the exposed Dalek spoke before the Doctor could, making him squint open one eye.

He looked at the Judge a moment, "You DID hear that yes?" he asked her, "Wasn't just in my head?"

"I heard it," she nodded, tensing more as she looked around, seeing the Daleks starting to shift.

"You will save us!" the exposed Dalek shouted again.

"I'll what?" the Doctor spun around to face it, dropping his arms.

"You will save the Daleks!"

"Save the Daleks!" the entirety of the Parliament began to chant the same, "Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks! Save the Daleks!"

"Well," the Doctor floundered a moment, stepping back to the Judge's side and draping an arm around her shoulders, "This is new."

"Not quite," the Judge shook her head, making him look at her questioningly, "Didn't you save the Dalek-Humans in New York?" he blinked at that, startled she knew about that, "Martha visited Torchwood," was all she had to say for him to understand, "This isn't all that different."

"True," he agreed.

She gave him a small smile and stepped out of his hold, his face slowly forming a frown when he saw her pause only a few steps ahead of him, eyeing the Daleks. The way she was turning though, he could tell from her stance that her discomfort wasn't from them…but from him. He swallowed hard and looked away, looked at the Daleks before he started to pace, making the enemies grow quiet as they watched him, just…needing something to do, needing something to occupy his thoughts and try to distract him from how his wife didn't seem to want anything to do with him.

He knew he deserved it, he'd been gone for…so long, he'd done such a terrible act in what happened to Gallifrey, and the fact that she'd chosen to stay with Torchwood all those years had to mean something. He'd been hoping that it was as she'd said, that she just wanted time to heal from the war and the devastation like he'd had, but…now he was starting to think she'd just been sparing his feelings, that she just hadn't wanted to go with him. She didn't like hurting him, seeing him in pain as much as he didn't like to see her suffer either, their mutual misery at the start of their marriage had ensured they didn't want that to happen again, they were a right pain in the arse when they were bitter and mad. He knew she wouldn't want to hurt his feelings so perhaps her reason for staying with Jack had just been an excuse.

And now he was torn between wanting to try and make up for that, to patch up the rift between them…and wanting to respect her desires and give her space. But…he'd been alone for so long, for nearly 300 years he'd been travelling by himself. Between dropping the Ponds off on Earth and investigating the Silence and the whole time falling apart and erasing himself from the history books, it had been near 300 years and all that time, always in the back of his mind…was HER.

Yes, he'd investigated the Silence because he'd wanted to know why they felt he had to die, to see if he could find a way to stop them coming after him. But it was more than that, he just hadn't wanted to leave her alone. He knew what it was like to think himself alone in the Universe, he didn't want her to truly be alone because he had died. He'd want to survive, for her, to give them a chance of one day reconciling. And after that, after he'd tricked the Silence he just…he could tell that the Ponds were getting ready for their new lives on Earth, or that they'd be forced into it because he'd have to let them think him dead. The Judge always kept her promises, treating them as much a law as the ones she'd memorized and upheld. Their titles…they weren't just promises to themselves, they were also the actual roles they'd had on Gallifrey, their jobs, he HAD been a Doctor, she HAD been a Judge, and she knew the law like the back of her hand, so she treated promises and agreements as contracts. If she was going to travel with him…he wanted it to be safe. He didn't want to worry about old enemies or new enemies hearing about him and coming after him.

So much for that plan if they both ended up in the Parliament of the Daleks though. Which reminded him, he really ought to focus on them and getting the four of them out of there alive.

The Judge closed her eyes, trying to keep his thoughts from filtering to her. Their people were largely telepathic in nature, they could always sense when another Time Lord was near. The further the distance, the weaker that feeling became, being in the same room as him…well, it was almost like they'd never been separated. When two Time Lords spent ample time with each other, their minds would slowly tune to the other, become more compatible to receive their thoughts. It was like how foreigners, when immersed in a culture, picked up the language just by being surrounded by it. For two Time Lords, being together and being around each other made their own telepathic connection stronger than others. They could be in a crowded room of Time Lords and be able to hear the other person clearly from across it simply because their minds were used to being near each other.

It was worse when there were only 2 Time Lords there who were already that familiar with each other. The Doctor…in a way she'd almost wished that he'd stopped visiting Gallifrey during his travels around the universe. Each time she thought her mind would be able to pull back from his, to be less familiar with it, he would appear and reestablish their connection. Even after all this time, he still popped into Torchwood occasionally and it would reconnect their minds. She didn't mind it, being connected to him, or she hadn't. But it was hard, because when a mind you were familiar with was distant in physical space, you felt that absence in your own mind. He kept leaving on Gallifrey, never satisfied with the planet, never feeling that he'd seen all there was to see. He'd come and go and she'd be left with the constant ache of missing him in her mind.

And there he was, so close and…his thoughts were focused on her and her safety (and the Ponds as well) and she wasn't sure what to make of it.

She shook her head and opened her eyes, glancing over at Amy and Rory who seemed just a little confused by her. She smiled apologetically and walked over to them, "Not quite sure if you remember me…" she left it off, knowing that the aborted-timeline that River had created could have erased their memories of it, or if it hadn't, that they were probably blurry and fading by now. The Ponds shook their heads but Amy seemed more hesitant to do so, like she did vaguely recall her, "I'm the Judge," she reached out to shake their hands, "I'm…the Doctor's wife," she added.

"You're kidding," Rory gaped at her.

"You know, you're not the first person to say that," the Judge laughed a little at that.

But the Doctor, even amid pacing, just pursed his lips. He knew he hadn't exactly given off 'the vibe' that he was married when he went about his travels…partially it was intentional. He knew he might very well make enemies and he didn't want them to know about his wife and children at home, he didn't want to make them a target. However…he also didn't give off the idea that he was available either. He never entered into a romantic relationship with any of his companions, he never got married to anyone else (not really, he always managed to find a way to sneak out of that one), he'd been kissed yes, but there was always a motive behind it and if he could avoid it he would. It wasn't till after the war, when he thought she was dead that the kissing was a little more out of control with his companions. But truly…even when they kissed him or he kissed them, even before he'd found her again, it didn't feel right. It didn't mean anything to him. Some were nice, he supposed, but they weren't the familiar kisses he was used to from her and they never would be.

He was slightly offended that people found it startling the idea that he might be married.

"You're really his wife?" Amy eyed her.

She nodded, "First and only."

Amy winced a little, "Um…I may have kissed your husband. Sorry," she offered an apologetic grimace with it.

The Judge just nodded slowly at that, she was aware of her husband's dealings. After he learned she was still alive she actually received frantic calls from him whenever someone kissed him or he had to kiss them apologizing over and over and promising her that it meant nothing to him. She found it both a little upsetting that he was being kissed and kissing others, even if he had some sort of explanation for each and every one that…knowing him…was in fact plausible, but also that it was endearing and sweet that he told her about it. That he didn't try to hide it from her, that he wasn't lying to her and he wanted her to know when something happened like that. She could see how much it bothered him when it happened. Despite not having wanted their marriage, neither of them had ever even considered infidelity, because it would just be disrespectful to the other and hurt them. As they grew older and got to know each other it became less about respecting the other and more about not really wanting anyone else. It became about not even thinking of something like that because they had grown to rather like each other, love each other, even if the Doctor had never said the words.

She stepped forward and gave Rory a quick and clearly platonic kiss on the cheek, "Even now?" she asked Amy, amused.

Amy blinked, surprised that someone had just kissed her husband but realizing that she had absolutely no right at all to be cross or outraged by it given HOW she'd kissed the Judge's husband. One small platonic peck on the cheek was hardly a crime when she herself had nearly straddled the Doctor and half-forced her tongue into his mouth. And…well, she forced down any sort of feeling like that when she remembered the little bit of paper she and Rory had just signed.

He wasn't her husband anymore, he could kiss anyone he wanted (even if that thought made bile rise in her throat).

"Yeah," she gave a little nod, "Even."

"Um…" Rory pointed at the Doctor, not wanting to hear about that, not wanting to think about how it would be more than even if it was another woman, because as soon as the papers in his pocket were filed, he'd be a single man once more…and Amy could kiss whoever she wanted (though he felt immense relief to know it wouldn't be the Doctor), "What's he doing?"

They glanced over to see he was now rather angrily pacing, his hands in fists, his jaw set, glancing at them from time to time before forcing his attention onto the room itself.

"He's chosen the most defendable area in the room," Amy sighed, guessing, "Counted all the Daleks, counted all the exits…"

"Actually he's wondering why you two are standing so far apart," the Judge cut in, her attention on them. She could sense a shift in his thoughts, from his slight unhappiness that she'd kissed Rory in front of him (at least she hadn't been there to witness the other kisses he'd had) to the reminder that they were in fact surrounded by Daleks and he should focus on that, to the realization that Amy, who had reminded him of that fact, wasn't standing as comfortably or as close to her husband as she normally did, "It's actually bothering him rather a lot."

Amy and Rory glanced at each other but were saved from answering when the white Dalek, one that looked similar to the one that had been created by Bracewell's Daleks, spoke, "We have arrived."

"Arrived where?" the Doctor spun around to face it.

"Doctor..." the exposed Dalek wheezed from its glass case.

"The Prime Minister will speak with you both now," a woman, the woman that had captured the Doctor, spoke from the side of the room.

The Doctor and the Judge looked at each other for a moment, frowning, before they started to make their way over, "I'm sorry about this," the Doctor murmured to her, "I…I didn't think they'd take you too."

She gave him a small shrug, her hand that was dangling at her side moving to rub against her leg just a moment after the back of his hand brushed against it as though about to take hold of it, "It was only a matter of time before they worked out another Time Lord was alive. Torchwood's had quite a few dealings with other aliens, word probably got out."

"Yes, but how did they know you were my wife?" he whispered, "I kept that a secret to protect you."

She blinked at him, actually stopping in her walking a moment, she'd suspected that, had hoped that would be the reason he'd said nothing to practically anyone about her existence, but to hear him say it, it made her hearts thump a little more loudly. She gave him a soft smile, "Yes well…Jack can be a rather talkative drunk despite my best efforts," she offered.

This time HE blinked at that, realizing that Jack had been in a few intergalactic bars with the Judge there to make sure he didn't drink himself dead and have him spring alive again. It had probably come up that she was a Time Lady, and given the different species he'd seen when he'd visited before he'd regenerated, well…word probably would spread to a few less than savory people that his wife was alive. He was just thankful that the Silence hadn't seemed to know about her.

He glanced over at the woman, Darla, a pale woman with straight red hair, dressed in black leather, and paused, "Do you remember who you were, before they emptied you out and turned you into their puppet?" he asked her quietly.

"My memories are only re-activated if they are required to facilitate deep cover or disguise," she stated, not a drop of emotion in her voice.

"You had a daughter."

The Judge tensed at that.

"I know," the woman merely leaned in, "I've read my file."

The Judge shook her head, "They really empty you of everything, don't they?" she murmured as she eyed the woman.

She…hadn't left Gallifrey much, not like the Doctor. Oh she took a few trips off world, to some seminars and gatherings on other worlds to discuss laws. She'd been with a few trips to newly colonized worlds to help them form a sort of legal system. But her life had been on Gallifrey, with their children. Someone had to stay there and help take care of them while their father was off having adventures. She had only had experiences with the Daleks when they came to Gallifrey, when the War happened. Oh she heard stories of them, of the things they could do, had heard it from Martha and Jack, but this was quite another thing.

"They really do," the Doctor said solemnly, taking her hand on instinct, not even realizing he'd let out a breath of relief when she didn't pull away this time but squeezed his hand back. He knew where her mind had gone.

THEY had a daughter once.

"I just…I can't understand," she breathed.

How could the woman be so calm about that? How could she talk about her daughter as though there was not a single shred of love for her. She had adored her daughter, all her children, as had the Doctor and to hear this woman…woman for she couldn't bring herself to think of her as a mother…speak so lightly about it. The Daleks were nothing but monsters.

"Neither can I," he admitted as they approached the Prime Minister, the exposed Dalek, "Well?" he asked the mutated lump before them.

"What do you know of the Dalek Asylum?" the PM countered.

"It's a holding facility," the Judge answered, having heard many rumors of it during the war, the prayers of the other soldiers that the Daleks not resort to opening the Asylum for more soldiers, "You keep the Daleks that are unbalanced, unhinged, unstable there. The ones you can't control, you put there."

"Which never made any sense to me," the Doctor agreed, having heard the same.

"Why not?"

"Because you'd just kill them."

"It is offensive to us to extinguish such divine hatred."

The Doctor shook his head at that, his hand squeezing the Judge's a little more at having to be confronted with such a…a…a true Dalek, the embodiment of their hated race, "Offensive?"

"Does it surprise you to know the Daleks have a concept of beauty?"

The Judge lightly pulled her hand away from the Doctor, crossing her arms before her as she shook her head at the Dalek, "Just when you think they can't be any more monstrous," she murmured.

"You think hatred is beautiful?" the Doctor frowned at the PM, the Judge turning away from it, walking away from it, and even though he was saddened that she'd left him to face the Dalek alone, he understood. She hadn't had as much confrontation with Daleks as he had. This was not a race that his people could stomach on a good day and to be so surrounded by them…it was too much.

"Perhaps that is why we have never been able to kill you," the PM remarked.

"Doctor!" the Judge called and he turned back to her to see her staring at the floor by Amy and Rory, tugging them back as it started to open. He hurried over to her side, reaching out a hand to put it on her shoulder, his other hand on her arm as he tugged her safely back as well.

He bit his tongue as she gently stepped out of his hold, doing her best to avoid his look, before she slowly stepped closer to the edge of the opening, looking down. He followed her, standing beside her but being sure not to stand too close, a feat that took more effort than he had anticipated. It was…difficult to be so close to her, to have such a strong sense of familiarity despite the new her, and to force himself away from it. But she was clearly having an issue being so close to him and he didn't want to alarm her or upset her, not when the Daleks would certainly use that to their advantage.

He peered over the side, Amy and Rory slowly joining them, to see a white planet below with some sort of force field around it.

"The Asylum," Darla walked to the opposite edge of the hole, "It occupies the entire planet. Right to the core."

"Do you have a record of how many are down there?" the Judge wondered, the Doctor smiling a little, she was always very organized, lists and charts and records were her thing, contrary to his 'organized chaos' as he liked to call it…which tended to just be general chaos with nor organization to it.

"A count has not been made. Millions, certainly."

"All still alive?" he glanced at her.

"It has to be assumed. The Asylum is fully automated, supervision is not required."

"Armed?" Amy frowned.

"They have laser arms, Amelia," the Judge reminded her.

Darla nodded, "The Daleks are always armed."

"What color?" came Rory's question…which made them all pause and look at him.

"Really?" the Judge gave him a less than impressed look.

"Sorry," he winced, feeling foolish, "There weren't any good questions left."

"This signal is being received from the very heart of the Asylum," Darla continued, moving to a small control panel next to the White Dalek and flicking it on, allowing 'Habanera' from Carmen to begin playing over the speakers.

"What is the noise?!" the White Dalek demanded as the Doctor closed his eyes and began to air conduct, occasionally clanging what appeared to be an imaginary triangle, "Explain! Explain!"

"It's a song," the Judge spoke.

"It's me," the Doctor corrected.

"Sorry what?!" Rory shook his head.

"It's me. Playing the triangle."

The Judge closed her eyes a moment, "Please tell me you didn't sneak into the orchestra," she glanced at him, "You don't have a drop of musical talent in your whole body."

"I'll have you know I was rather skilled with my little recorder in my second incarnation," he stuck his tongue out at her.

But the Judge just raised her eyebrow at that, "Is this a normal reaction for this body? Sticking your tongue out like a two year old?"

"No," the Doctor answered instantly, before sighing, "Yes."

"Charming," she nodded, giving him a wry grin.

"Well, you know, I got buried in the mix," he continued on, "Carmen! Lovely show. Someone's transmitting this," he walked over to the controls, the Judge stepping a little closer, but to the side, her eye on the White Dalek that hadn't moved, tensing, not used to being this close to Daleks and not in the middle of battle with them. The Doctor just ignored the creature and flashed his sonic on the controls, "Have you considered tracking back the signal and talking to them?" he glanced up only to see the Daleks staring at him, "He asked the Daleks..." he shook his head and flicked another control, "Hello? Hello, Carmen? Hello?"

"…hello?" another voice answered back, sounding very much like a young woman.

"Come in, come in, come in, Carmen."

"Hello, yes, yes, sorry, do you read me?!"

"Yes, reading you loud and clear. Identify yourself and report your status."

But the young woman seems still in shock that they're even speaking to her, "Hello! Are you real? Are you actually, properly real?"

"Yep, confirmed," the Doctor chuckled slightly, "Actually properly real."

"Oswin Oswald, Junior Entertainment Manager, Starship Alaska. Current status…crashed and shipwrecked somewhere...not nice. Been here a year, rest of the crew missing. Provisions good, but keen to move on."

"A year?" the Judge frowned, making her way over to the Doctor's side, "How old are you?"

"26," the woman, Oswin, stated, "Why, does that matter?"

"You do realize where you are?" the Judge continued.

"Yeah," Oswin muttered, "Some sort of Dalek planet. Hence the 'keen to move on' bit."

The Doctor cracked a smile at that, but the Judge's frown just deepened, "And you've managed to keep the Daleks away for a year?"

"Seems that way, yes."

"How?" the Doctor had to ask that one this time, surprised by that, "What have you been doing?"

"Making soufflés?"

"Soufflés?! Against the Daleks?"

"Well look at that," the Judge murmured, "Someone more ridiculous than you," she gave the Doctor a joking smile, "I'm starting to think you're part human Doctor."

He had only just started to smile, actually relieved she was teasing him, before a thought struck him and he turned back to the controls, back to Oswin, "Where do you get the milk?"

"This conversation is irrelevant!" the White Dalek suddenly roared, making the Judge jump back, startled, as though she hadn't realized how close she'd gotten to the Dale.

"No," the Doctor reached out to take the Judge's elbow, tugging her closer, a little behind him, "It isn't!"

But the Dalek had already turned to the controls and aimed its sucker arm at it, distorting the frequency, ending the transmission as Oswin called out to them till static sounded.

"Because a Starliner's crashed into your Asylum," the Doctor continued, "And someone's got in. And if someone can get in, then…"

"Someone can get out," the Judge rubbed her head, "Every single one of those Daleks can escape the same way."

"A tsunami of insane Daleks," the Doctor shook his head, eyeing the white Dalek, "Even you don't want that."

"The Asylum must be cleansed!" the White one stated.

"Then why is it still here? You've got enough firepower on this ship, to blast it out of the sky."

"The Asylum force-field is impenetrable," Darla told him.

"Well here's a thought, why not turn it off?" the Judge offered, getting frustrated, stepping a little away from the Doctor though she could feel his eyes on her.

"It can only be turned off from within the Asylum."

"Of course it can," she muttered.

"A small task force could sneak through a force-field," the Doctor countered, "Send in a couple of Daleks. Oh!" he stopped suddenly and started to mockingly clap, "Oh, that's good. That's brilliant. You're all too scared to go down there! Not one of you will go! So tell me, what do the Daleks do when they're too scared?"

"The Predator of the Daleks will be deployed," the White Dalek informed them.

"The Predator?" the Judge scoffed, "There's no such thing."

"And even if there was," the Doctor agreed, "Why would they turn off a force-field for you?"

"Because you will have no other means of escape," the PM called, making them turn to it.

The Judge closed her eyes, "Please tell me YOU aren't the Predator, Doctor," she looked at him.

"Not that I know of," he began to speak.

But Darla cut in, "May I clarify...the Predator _is_ the Daleks' word for you."

"Me?!" he gaped at her, "Me?!"

"You will need this," she stepped up to the Time Lords, placing a band around the Doctor's wrist with a blue light set in the middle of it, "It will protect you from the Nano-cloud," she added, putting a second one on the Judge's wrist as two other male puppets did the same behind them, to Amy and Rory.

"The what? The nano-what?"

The two male puppets just turned, each of them grabbing the Doctor and Judge by the elbow, pulling them back towards Amy and Rory, towards the edge of the opening in the floor.

"The gravity beam will convey you close to the source of the transmission. You must find a way to deactivate the force-field from there," Darla pressed a button on her wrist and a brilliant light of pure white energy shot out from the hole in the floor, heading right down to the planet below.

"You're going to fire us at a planet?" the Doctor pulled his grasp out of the puppet's hold, "That's your plan? I get fired at a planet and expected to fix it?"

"In fairness, that is slightly your MO," Rory offered.

The Doctor just turned and pointed at him, "Don't be fair to the Daleks when they're firing us at a planet!"

"Hold on," the Judge shook her head, "I can understand us," she gestured between her and the Doctor, "We're Time Lords, we're familiar with your tech, we're clever…but why do you want two humans?"

"Oi!" Amy let out a slightly offended cry at that.

"It is known that the Doctor requires companions," the White Dalek remarked, making the Judge roll her eyes and give the Doctor a pointed look which he returned with a sheepish grin.

"Oh, brilliant," Rory muttered, "Good."

The Doctor sighed and looked at the Ponds, "Don't worry, we'll get through this I promise. Don't be scared."

"Scared?" Amy smirked, "Who's scared? Geronimo."

"I see why you always picked the humans," the Judge muttered, making him look at her, "They're the only ones barmy enough to enjoy something like this."

He opened his mouth to counter that when his eyes widened in alarm as she was pushed off the side of the ship and into the beam by one of the male puppets, launching himself after her within an instant, reaching for her as they both toppled towards the planet. He managed to grab hold of her hand just as he saw the Ponds falling towards them as well.

"Wrong way up!" Rory was shouting as he fell upside down, "Wrong way up!"

"RORY!" Amy cried out, reaching for him…before a brilliant flash of light filled their sight…

~8~

The Doctor groaned as he slowly woke up to the sound of a mechanical whirring noise, to find himself lying on snow…with a Dalek periscope staring at him from the white expanse before him. He just stared at it a moment, until the speakers sounded…and Carmen began to play over them.

"Sorry, sorry!" the speakers cut out again and Oswin's voice was back, "Pressed the wrong switch."

"Soufflé girl?" he frowned, trying to get his bearings. He remembered falling and…

"Could always call me Oswin, seeing as that's my name. You ok?"

"How are you doing that?" he reached out to tap the glass of the periscope, moving to sit up, "This is Dalek technology."

"Well it's very easy to hack."

"No, it isn't," the Doctor shook his head, sonicing the tech, "Where are you?"

"Ship broke up when it hit. Somewhere underground, I think. You coming to get me?"

"Doctor!" he heard Amy shouting in the distance and it hit him, the fall, the Dalek Parliament, the Judge and Amy and Rory…

But his attention was pulled to the periscope when the static started to sound, but it lasted only a moment before he jumped to his feet. The Judge! She'd been in there, she'd been the one falling, he'd jumped in after her and…she wasn't there. He spun around, trying to find her, she should be visible, blue on white, but there was no sight of her.

"Judge!?" he called out, not daring to use her real name on the Dalek world, "Judge!"

"Doctor!" Amy's voice sounded closer and he spun around to see her hurrying towards him down a snowy slope.

"Amy," he grabbed her arms, "Where's the Judge, have you seen her? Where's Rory?"

"There was another beam," a man spoke and the Doctor looked over to see that a black man in a white snow suit had followed after Amy towards him, "There, over there," he pointed, the duo taking off in that direction instantly, "Are you the rescue team?!" he asked, darting after them.

The Doctor reached the top of the hill again, looking in the direction that the man had pointed and his hearts stopped, "Judge!" he gasped, rushing towards the figure of his wife lying unmoving on the ground. Not again, not again, she'd regenerated too many times so far, far FAR too many.

All because of him. Because HE hadn't been there to protect her. Because he'd trusted Jack to do it and clearly that had been a grave mistake. This could not be happening, it couldn't. But seeing her lying there as he ran towards her, seeing that there was no golden-orange glow surrounding her, he felt his breath leave him in fear that she might have died, fully and completely died this time with no time for regeneration and that couldn't be, because he couldn't lose her, not now…

"Judge!" he dropped to his knees beside her, rolling her over, nearly sagging with relief when she groaned and slowly blinked awake to see him, "Don't you ever, ever scare me like that again," he warned her, lifting her up and crushing her to him in a tight hug.

She hugged back, but not like he remembered her doing, it was like she was only gripping his arms and not truly hugging him, "I'm fine Doctor," she murmured, pulling away, clearing her throat as though she were uncomfortable, "I just hit the ground a bit hard…" she looked around, and spotted the black man, "Who are you?"

"Harvey," the man smiled, "I um…I saw a beam of light in this direction and pointed it out to them…" he jerked a hand at the Doctor and Amy.

The Judge blinked, "Where's Rory?"

Amy looked around for him, "There!" she pointed and hurried over, seeing a hole in the ground only a few feet away from where the Judge had landed, dropping to her knees beside it. The Judge moved to get up, the Doctor offering her a hand to help which she too, giving him a small smile for it before letting go and heading towards Amy.

The Doctor let out a deep sigh at that, he'd have liked to hold her hand just a bit longer. Even though they were more than capable of handling the extremes, being Time Lords, his hand felt so warm when she'd taken it for those few seconds, it felt colder now.

"Rory?" Amy was shouting down what appeared to be a well as the Doctor approached, "Rory?! RORY!" but there was no response.

"I've got some rope," Harvey offered, "We can use it to repel down there. Come on, it's this way," he turned and led them over to a small lump in the snow, a hatch of some sort, that he started working on clearing the snow from around enough to open it, "We came down two days ago. There is 12 other escape pods. I don't know what happened to them."

Amy frowned and wiped the snow off the top of the hatch, seeing the name of the ship was, "Alaska?" she blinked, "That's the same ship as soufflé girl."

"I believe her name is Oswin," the Judge murmured, though she too was frowning at the name of the ship. If the ship had been there for a year…why did Harvey think that it was only 2 days?

The Doctor glanced at her and nodded, hearing her thoughts and agreeing very much with them, something was certainly wrong.

Harvey let out a cheer as he got the hatch open and began to climb down a ladder into it, the Doctor, Amy, and the Judge after him, "We should have some climbing rope long enough for that hole," Harvey repeated, moving to a locker in the side of the room.

The Judge grimaced and covered her mouth and nose from the stench around them, something that the humans didn't seem able to smell, though from how the Doctor was frowning and eyeing the seats of the shuttle, the people in snowsuits sitting I them with their backs to the group, he did as well.

"Won't you introduce us to your crew?" the Doctor remarked.

"Ah yeah, sorry," Harvey smiled, "Guys, this is the Doctor, the Judge, and Amy," the crew was silent, "Guys?" the Doctor sighed and reached out to touch the arm of the nearest crew member…only for the bodily remains of it to fall forward, revealing a desiccated corpse, "Oh, my God!"

"Please tell me you aren't checking to see if they're dead, Doctor," the Judge frowned as he began to scan the bodies.

"No, no dear," he murmured, "Checking for how they died."

"That's not possible," Harvey argued, "They can't be dead. I just spoke to them. Two hours ago, we were doing engine repairs!"

"Yes, because they truly look like they were alive two hours ago," the Judge countered, "Whatever happened, they've been dead months at the least."

Harvey frowned and looked at the remains of his crew before he closed his eyes, "Oh, of course!" he breathed, a realization hitting him, "Stupid me."

"Of course, what?" Amy frowned.

"I died outside and the cold preserved my body," Harvey remarked, as though he were just working that out, "I forgot about dying."

"Oh that is disgusting," the Judge grimaced as a Dalek eyestalk just sprouted out of the man's head, Harvey's face going blank as he started to advance towards them.

The Doctor turned and grabbed a fire extinguisher off the wall, firing it at Harvey to distract him, "_Carah the door!_" he shouted in Gallifreyan so that the puppet wouldn't know what he was saying or planning.

The Judge rushed forward and pushed a button for the door behind Harvey, opening it as the Doctor used the extinguisher to force the man through it, the door shutting immediately after. The Doctor quickly flashed it with the sonic, locking it.

"Explain!" Amy demanded, "That's what you're good at. How did he get all Daleked?"

"You really can't work it out for yourself?" the Judge shook her head at the woman, her and the Doctor pressed against the wall Harvey had just been locked behind, and looked at him, "I truly don't know what you see in these Humans, Doctor."

"They have…potential," he shrugged, trying to defend them.

"Why did they give us these Amy?" the Judge looked at Amy, holding up her wrist to show her the bands they wore.

"To protect against that nano thing," she stated, blinking, "The nano-cloud did that?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "Nano-cloud. Micro-organisms that automatically process any organic matter, living or dead, into a Dalek puppet. Anything attacks this place, it automatically becomes part of the on-site security."

"Living or dead?" Amy tensed.

"These wrist-bands protect us," the Doctor repeated, "The only thing stopping us going exactly..."

"Doctor," the Judge cut in, giving him a look, "You realize we are surrounded by the DEAD, yes?"

He blinked and looked at the crew members, all of whom now had the eyestalks starting to sprout out of their foreheads and were beginning to push themselves up to stand, "Ah, right."

A/N: I'll admit this was probably the more difficult of episodes to write for the Judge, trying to express her new personality without making it too obvious, trying to make her interactions more awkward with the Doctor than cold. I hope she came across alright. We'll see a reason for how she acts around the Doctor tomorrow ;)

I'll also be posting the 14 different incarnations of the Judge on my tumblr today ;) And, to help picture her current incarnation (her 14th), an actress that I see as being similar to how I picture the Judge in my head is Italia Ricci :)

For the last chapter...the incarnation we see first is her 7th. She regenerated when the timelines were fixed into her 8th self. She regenerated 4 more times while working with Torchwood (so we missed her 9th, 10th, 11th selves). The Doctor realized as he spoke to her on the pyramid, that her voice was different from her 11th self and that she had regenerated once more, the one we see with the Doctor and River is her 12th self. She regenerated twice more between time falling apart and meeting the Doctor here, so we missed her 13th self, and are now on her 14th self ;)

I can also say that I'm planning to do a spinoff for this story when it's over that would feature the Judge in the Torchwood episodes :) So like a revision of that series so that we can see her relationship with the Torchwood Team and her regenerations and hear her talking a little more about her marriage on Gallifrey (like we will in this story too) ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I can say that I am planning an AU where she stays after Doomsday yup ;) I love it when a story gives me an idea for an AU right after the first chapter alone ^-^

Yup, Susan will be the Doctor and the Judge's granddaughter in this story :) She'll be mentioned later on ;)

I'll definitely be doing a spinoff following Judge's time in Torchwood yup :) Oh, I don't think I could ever write a story where Rose and the Doctor actually had that sort of relationship, she's definitely not my favorite companion :)

I love 11 :) 10 will always be special as he's my first Doctor, but 11 really grew on me :)

You might be confusing the Judge with TL5. TL5 will be the Time Lady that travels with the 11th Doctor in series 5 ;) I've come to label my Time Ladies by the series they focus in, TL7 (the Judge) is Series 7, TL5 will be series 5 and will be a stranger to the Doctor and travel with him in Series 5 ;)

I can say it won't be quite as volatile as I think Lily and James came across at times, but they'll definitely have opposing views on things :)

Not quite Lana Parrilla, but close, the 7th incarnation (the first one we saw in the last chapter) I see to be Keegan Connor Tracy, which is the Blue Fairy in OUAT ;) I can say that I originally had LP as one of the 'Torchwood incarnations' (the ones between Doomsday and when we see her again in TWORS) but changed it ;)

We probably won't have any flashbacks, but we'll have a lot of in depth discussions about events that happened during their marriage :) I was considering a spin-off of their life on Gallifrey, but decided on the spinoff of Torchwood instead, only because we'll be hearing more about their marriage during the story than we will about Torchwood :) I can say we'll find out how many children in TPOT and their names and if they survived/died. We'll also see a few kisses coming up before the end of this series, I can say before Sweetville too (because now there actually IS a Mrs. Smith there lol). Their marriage and the process that they worked towards will be revealed in TPOT too ;) As for Clara, I can't say just yet, but she won't be their daughter. I'm planning an AU of the HOTS where Clara will be the main pairing's daughter so I'll probably be staying away from that relation in other stories as a result :) We might see hints of Jack here and there though ;) The Ponds are a little confused at the moment, but they won't realize the Judge is there to stay till DOAS so we'll see the reaction then ;) I think the Judge will come to like how Rory is just himself, he's not trying to impress anyone, like I think she feels humans try to do, he's just Rory :) Adorable Rory :) I can say they'll definitely kiss before regeneration ;)

Oh the Judge will be commenting on how often she dies in the Torchwood spinoff and at some point in this story as well :) She goes through bodies like the Doctor does lol :) I think that's how you spell it yup :) I can say it took Jack a little pushing to get her to even use a gun ;) Aww, I love pegacorns, they remind me of Pegasus from Sailor Moon :)


	3. Asylum of the Daleks - Part 2

Asylum of the Daleks - Part 2

"Don't just stand there!" the Judge quickly pushed the Doctor on, the three of them racing past the corpses, which were luckily rather slow at moving, and towards a door on the opposite end of the room. They tried to get through but one of the corpses, the nearest one to the door, grabbed Amy's arm, trying to pull her back towards them. The Doctor turned and grabbed her other arm in retaliation, yanking her through as the Judge slammed her hand on a control, shutting the door, the three of them falling against it, the Doctor between them.

Amy panted a moment before letting out a soft chuckle and smiling, "Is it bad that I've REALLY missed this?"

"Yes," the Doctor answered promptly.

"Good."

"I know," he grinned widely.

"You're both completely barmy," the Judge muttered, closing her eyes and shaking her head, pushing off the door as the Doctor turned to speak to her, a frown growing on his face when she walked away from him, nearly to the opposite end of the room and tried to make a show of examining the equipment and controls there…except there were none.

"Unauthorized personnel may not enter the cockpit," Oswin's voice echoed above them.

"Shut up," the Doctor huffed, pushing off the door as well, not quite sounding irritated or angry but more…resigned and just slightly hurt.

He was starting to get the very distinct impression that the Judge was trying to avoid being near him.

"Ooh, Mr. Grumpy!" Oswin commented, making the Judge's lips quirk into a smile at that, "Bad combo! No sense of humor and that chin!"

"If you think he's bad now," the Judge remarked, "You should have seen a few other versions of him."

The Doctor pointed at her like he was going to say something before having to nod at that, a few past incarnations were rather grumpy as well and had their own 'abnormal' facial features. The version he'd been when he'd first me Rose came to mind slightly, big ears and big nose and rather grumpy disposition.

"I may just start calling you Mr. Grumpy, Doctor," the Judge joked.

"Whatever makes you happy," he told her genuinely.

But the desired effect, making her smile, was not what he got, instead she just gave him a rather awkward nod and brushed a lock of hair behind her ears before looking away, rubbing her hands on the sides of her legs like she wasn't quite sure how to react to that. It was something that they'd both fallen into when they were married. After the first bout of years where they had just argued constantly in private, to the next set where they'd tried to practically ignore each other's existence…they'd started to appreciate the other, to care about each other, to genuinely want them to just be happy. It had become a sort of motto for them, a mantra, because they truly did just want the other to be happy. It seemed like bringing that up didn't quite make her happy to be reminded of.

"Is that her again?" Amy asked, noticing the small frown on the Doctor's face, how the Judge was turning away again, and trying to distract them, "Soufflé girl?"

"Oswin," the Judge repeated lightly.

The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at the Judge for that before he blinked and spun around, looking up at a Dalek lens above the door, a camera, "What is wrong with my chin?!"

"I believe the humans would say, it has got its own zip code."

"Oi!" he pouted at the Judge for that.

"Careful, dear," Oswin laughed at that, "You'll put someone's eye out. Ooh but I like you Plaidy."

The Judge blinked, "Plaidy?" before she looked down, as though just realizing she was wearing a plaid shirt. She hadn't given much thought to it, but she had rather taken to wearing plaid. Jack liked to joke about that, call her a lumberjack. She was almost missing him teasingly calling her 'Judy' instead.

"You three just sit tight," Oswin continued, "I'm scanning you. You're on another of the escape pods from the Alaska, right? Same ship I was on."

"How are you able to see us?" the Judge shook her head and looked up at the camera as well, taking a few steps closer to the Doctor but not standing exactly beside him.

"Hacked in," Oswin sounded like she was shrugging.

"That should be impossible," the Doctor frowned, "You're in a crashed ship!"

"Long story. Is there a word for total screaming genius that sounds modest and a tiny bit sexy?"

"Doctor," he grinned, "You call me the Doctor."

"I see what you did there," Oswin laughed, making his grin widen, though it froze slightly when he saw the Judge was rather unimpressed and shaking her head at him, he always had been the more arrogant one of the pair, "Check the floor. I'm picking up a breach at floor level, there could be a way out. See you later!"

The two Time Lords looked down, seeing the outline of a hatch and began to clear the floor so that they could get a closer look at it.

"Aha, hatch!" the Doctor grinned at it, "Looks like it's been used already, and they tried to block it off behind them."

Amy glanced back at the door, seeing a security footage playing of the corpses just standing there by the door, weakly pounding on it, "Can't imagine why."

"The lower part of the pod is buried, so this must go straight down into the Asylum," the Doctor murmured, scanning the hatch with his sonic.

"Where Rory is?"

"Speaking of Rory..." he glanced at Amy, "Anything you want to tell me?"

"Are we going to do this now?!" Amy huffed.

"Do what now?" the Judge frowned.

"Your husband seems to have a habit of asking personal questions when in the middle of deadly danger," Amy rolled her eyes.

"At least he waits for deadly danger instead of edge of death this time," the Judge shrugged.

The Doctor winced at that, knowing what she was referring to. The first time she'd regenerated, he'd been an utter wreck, he hadn't known what to do or what to say or how to comfort her. It was always scary, that first time, not knowing what would happen or how much it would hurt or how long it would take or what you'd get in the end. It was the unknown that was terrifying, the pain making it doubly so. She'd been harmed in a rather bad accident with their daughter, their daughter had been fine but she had received the brunt of it to keep her safe. She'd been on the verge of regenerating when he got there, to her side, had actually been holding it back despite how it was damaging her because she hadn't wanted to go without him there.

He had been so frantic, leaving the children in the hall with his brother, not wanting any of them to see their mother like that. He had taken her hand and tried to soothe her, tried to make her smile, wanting her last moments to he as happy as they could be, as relaxed. He couldn't even remember what he'd said to her, it was such a blur, but apparently he'd ended up asking her some rather odd personal questions that had her half laughing, half crying before the regeneration hit. He was sure there was something in there about her favorite joke and if he should attempt to make dinner for them that night…THAT had been what had set her off laughing, he was sure, because his cooking had been rather abysmal in his first body. He'd burned water, he'd literally burned water.

He still wasn't sure how.

"What happened Amy?" he shook his head and focused on her once more, trying to shake the memories of the times she'd regenerated from his mind.

It made his hearts hurt terribly to think of how he hadn't been there. He'd been there first time she'd regenerated, and when the timelines had been reset after she'd saved Rose. But all those other times, so many times, and he hadn't been there beside her. It killed him, because he hadn't wanted it to happen at all, he never wanted her to regenerate, to die, but in the same breath, he'd gone through bodies remarkably fast as well, and she hadn't been there for them either. But that had been his choice, he'd not wanted her to see the state he'd been in all those times he'd died. He was sure she felt the same, but at the same time, he knew they both had likely wanted the other to be there too.

He was determined, though, that she was NOT going to regenerate again, not if he had something to say about it. He had lasted centuries and only regenerated about 7 times before the war started. Whereas she had regenerated 8 times since the war ended. She'd regenerated most of those times working for Torchwood and he just…he didn't want her to go back to them, not if it meant she'd be at such risk. He'd only left her with Jack because she'd asked him to go, it was his way of letting her stay with the facility like she had let him explores time and space, and because Jack had sworn he'd protect her…he'd failed, miserably at that, and he didn't want to see her harmed again, he didn't want to see her regenerate for a very, very long time now. He knew it wasn't exactly safe to travel with him, but at least he could try to keep her safer.

But…did she even want to travel with him anymore? She'd mentioned it, the last time he'd seen her, she'd said she would, but…that had been 2 bodies ago and what if she felt differently now?

"Oh, stuff, you know," Amy shrugged.

"I'm not quite sure I'm following?" the Judge sounded more like she was asking a question than making a statement there, looking between Amy and the Doctor, confused as to what was going on.

"We split up," Amy answered, "What can you do?"

"What _can_ I do?" the Doctor murmured.

The Judge eyed him closely as he half sighed that question out. She knew that Amy saw it as a question directed at her but…she could tell there was something different in it. It wasn't just a question posed to Amy but to himself as well. It was…similar, in a way, Amy and Rory, and the two of them, both were in rather…strained marriages now. Amy and Rory were divorcing it appeared, which was something THEY couldn't do. It was against the contract and they were both going to uphold it, the last link to the old ways of Gallifrey. And no matter what, she couldn't bring herself to do something like that either. Her title was all she had left to her, her purpose was all she had left, to make sure that the laws of time flowed properly, that the rules were upheld, to break their contract? She couldn't even begin to contemplate that.

And that was why she could hear it in his voice, he was wondering that about them as well. She knew he was aware that things were…different between them, and she knew that now wasn't the right time to really go in depth and talk about it, not with the Daleks around them. They would have to talk soon, but he didn't understand what was bothering her about him and she knew he just wanted to make it right. He wasn't just asking Amy, but asking her as well, what could he do to fix this thing between them.

"Nothing," Amy answered, not looking at the Doctor, "It's not one of those things you can fix like you fix your bowtie," her gaze flickered to the Doctor at that point, sighing when she saw him now looking at her sympathetically, "Don't give me those big wet eyes, raggedy man. It's life. Just life. That thing that goes on when you're not there."

The Doctor looked back down when the hatch popped open finally. They peered down, able to see a rope ladder dangling from the hatch, a tunnel leading right down to what appeared to be a corridor below them.

"Ok," Amy frowned, "So someone else got out this way then?"

"What would be the first clue for that?" the Judge nearly grumbled, it was fairly obvious that someone had tied the rope ladder to the hatch. She really didn't see how the Doctor found these humans so interesting.

"Let's go and find them," the Doctor offered her a smile though, knowing her feelings for humans. It wasn't that she didn't like them, she just…didn't see what he saw in them. He moved to start climbing down when the Judge put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. And it worked, he stopped instantly, looking up at her for how she'd touched him this time. But her gaze was instead ahead of them.

"What are they holding?" she murmured, getting up and walking towards the footage by the door, where the banging on the door had stopped and the corpses were just standing there waving something in one hand.

"What's that?" Amy called.

The Doctor frowned, squinting from where he was half on the ladder already, "Judge?"

She turned around and held up her wrist, "The wrist device," she showed him, "Which one of you lost yours?" she frowned, not bothering to ask if they had theirs as clearly one of them did not.

The Doctor quickly pulled his sleeve up to reveal his own device and Amy did the same, gasping when she saw her arm was bare, "They got it from me!"

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek to keep from remarking that it was rather obvious they got it from her, the commentary wasn't needed, but refrained, knowing this was far too serious and when humans were scared they tended to be even less thoughtful about matters like that.

"Oh Amy," the Doctor breathed, taking her arm and examining it.

Amy swallowed hard and glanced at them, "What's going to happen to me?" she asked, "Seriously, tell me, what?"

The Judge glanced back as the bodies began to pound on the door, harder than before, "We can talk on the way down," she ushered them on, the Doctor and Amy going down on either side of the rope ladder while she went after them, the Doctor giving her a concerned glance as she followed, both of them concerned about Amy and what the nano-genes would do.

~8~

"So, tell me," Amy asked as they climbed down the last few feet of the ladder, "What's going to happen to me? And don't lie," she added to the Doctor, "Cos I know when you're lying to me and I will definitely fall on you."

"I doubt that," the Judge remarked.

"Oh I WILL fall on him," Amy tried to smile up at her.

"No, I don't doubt that part," the Judge glanced down, "I very much doubt you can tell when he's truly lying. Little things are one thing, but the truly important parts, I don't believe you'd be able to tell."

Amy frowned, opening her mouth to counter that when the Doctor cut in, "The air all around is full of micro-machines," he explained to Amy, really not wanting a bicker to break out.

Well, Amy would bicker and state that she knew what she was doing and that she could tell and be offended someone would imply she could not, and the Judge would likely just state the fact of the matter, and she'd be right. The humans…when he really and truly did not want them to know, he could lie and they'd be none the wiser, like when he'd broken Amy's faith in him when dealing with that minotaur. He'd lied through his teeth at that and she'd fallen for it, if she could truly tell when he was lying, she never would have. The Judge…it had taken her years to be able to discern it, but SHE could tell when he lied. It appeared his 'tells' were the same in each incarnation.

"Robots the size of molecules, nanogenes. Now that you're unprotected, you're being...rewritten."

"So, what happens?" Amy hopped off the bottom rung and stepped back to allow the Judge to follow, "I get one of those things sticking out my head?"

"Physical changes come later," he murmured, looking around at the corridor they'd found themselves in. It was a dead end behind them, with a door at the opposite end, and a few little niches in the side of the corridor.

"It's the mental effects that will come first," the Judge hopped down as well, stepping up beside the Doctor, "Humans, your minds are so easy to change and manipulate…so gullible."

"Oi!" Amy frowned, "We are not!"

The Judge glanced at her, "You might have been too young to vote at the time, but if you had…would you have voted for Harold Saxon?"

"Yeah," Amy said almost instantly.

"And why's that?" she crossed her arms.

"I dunno," Amy shrugged, "He sound…good."

The Judge nodded, "My point proven," before she turned and stepped further into the wall, the Doctor watching her go, his hand moving into a gentle fist to keep from reaching out to her.

"What's she talking about Doctor?" Amy frowned at him.

He sighed, "Harold Saxon was a Time Lord, hiding out on Earth, pretending to be human," he answered, "He put a sort of subliminal message in the Archangel mobile phone network that made everyone vote for him."

Amy wanted to open her mouth and argue that she hadn't had a mobile phone then, she wasn't affected, she wouldn't be so weak as to fall for some mind game like that…but she HAD had a mobile, and she had just said she would vote for Saxon and not even realize why.

"So…what will happen to my mind then?" she changed the subject.

The Judge rolled her eyes at that as they walked on, not even willing to admit to their mistakes. Typical human.

"Your feelings, your memories, will start to change," the Doctor sighed, "And I'm sorry, but it's started already."

"How do you know?" Amy looked at him.

"Because we've had this conversation four times."

"And it is getting rather annoying," the Judge added.

"Judge!" the Doctor whirled to her, pouting.

"It is," she shrugged.

"Scared now," Amy muttered, pulling the Doctor's attention back to her.

He sighed and looked at her, "Hang on to scared. Scared isn't Dalek."

"Unless their faced with the Predator," the Judge remarked, "Which…she is."

"Really not helping," the Doctor mumbled.

She shrugged and moved over to one of the niches in the wall, seeing an outline of a panel alongside it and began to feel along the side of it for a way to open it.

The Doctor stepped near her, about to help, when he saw her hands falter at how close he was, nearly pressed against her in the small space. He quickly stepped back and looked around, best to let her try her hand and then call him over for the sonic if she couldn't open it. He moved to the door at the end of the hall, checking through it as it slid up, Amy coming to join him. But he didn't step inside, just sniffed deeply and frowned.

"What's that?" Amy asked, able to hear a faint echo of what sounded like Daleks within despite the fact they couldn't see them.

The Doctor just took her arm and stepped back until the door slid shut, "Keep a lookout," he patted her arm and turned to head back to the Judge, calling, "Don't open this door!" over his shoulder. He didn't have time to worry about the Judge and how she stiffened after just getting the panel open for how close he was when he joined her again, a Dalek camera above the panel, their link to Oswin, "Oswin?! Oswin, can you hear me?!"

"Hello, the Chin!" Oswin's happy voice called back, "I have visual on you and Plaidy."

"It's the Judge, Oswin," the Judge introduced.

"Ooh Judge Judy was my favorite show!" Oswin laughed, "Have you ever seen it?"

"The original and the robot that took her over," the Judge muttered, examining the screen and controls on the other side of the panel.

"It really did go quite downhill after the robo-Judy took over," Oswin sighed, "Very by the book she was."

The Doctor just grimaced at the reminder of a few shows where a robot took over for the main host…like the Anne-Droid he'd encountered on the Game Station, "Why don't we have visual on you Oswin? Why can't we ever see you?"

"Limited power, bad hair, take your pick. Going to send you a map to that screen you're looking at Judy…"

"If it's a choice, I prefer Plaidy," the Judge grumbled.

"That's what your little friend said," Oswin laughed, "But about Nina."

"Rory?" the Doctor looked up at the camera, "You found Rory?"

"I call him Nina, it's a personal thing, hush now," there was the faint sound of a keyboard typing, "I put him somewhere safe. I can get you to him."

"How many Daleks directly ahead of us, right now?" the Doctor asked Oswin quietly, leaning in, trying to ignore the way the Judge was tensing at how his hand was resting on her shoulder, needing to lean in closer so that Oswin could hear.

"Does the amount really matter?" the Judge glanced at him, "Even one would be too much."

"10, 20, hard to say," Oswin remarked, "Some of them are catatonic, but they do have firepower."

"How do we get past them?" the Doctor frowned.

"You can't be serious," the Judge turned, pressing her back against the wall, facing him, forcing him to let go of her shoulder, giving him space enough without having to be too close to him, "Please tell me you're not talking about fighting your way through dozens of Daleks armed with nothing more than a sonic!"

"Well…I…I'm sure we could find something else to hit them with too," he offered, rubbing the back of his neck.

"That is never going to work."

"Has in the past."

"And these aren't the Daleks from our past!" she huffed, "These are the more dangerous ones. They'll hardly be scared by a beeping stick!"

"Well maybe they'll be frightened by the Predator," he stuck out his chest and tried to smile reassuringly at her.

"Yes, because the bowtie screams danger," she reached out and flicked it.

"Oi," he straightened it, "Bowties are cool."

"Um, if you two are done bickering like an old married couple," Oswin cut in, your little ginger friend just walked into the Dalek room…"

They both popped their head around the side of the niche to see that Amy had indeed entered the room and was walking dazedly towards the center of it where Daleks were starting to approach her.

"Amy!" the Doctor shouted, darting after her, leaving the Judge little option but to go with him.

"Shh," Amy put a finger to her lips, smiling at the Daleks as they drew nearer, "It's ok. It's just people in here. It's just people."

"Amy, do you remember what I said about humans being gullible?" the Judge sighed, the Doctor trying to gently tug Amy back.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"You're proving my point once more."

"What?" Amy frowned, turning to her.

"Amy it's the nano-cloud," the Doctor warned, "It's altering your perception. Look again, look again, those aren't people," they watched as Amy turned around, back to the Daleks, her eyes widening as though she were seeing what they really were now, "Come with me, take my hand. Run, run!" he grabbed her hand and turned, pulling her out of the room.

They reached the rope ladder, the Doctor letting go of Amy's hand to put his free one to the Judge's back, about to help her start climbing when she stepped away from his touch, "We're too late," she murmured, looking up at where the corpses were already on their way down the ladder after them.

"Intruder!" a Dalek cried behind them, making them spin around to face it.

"Run!" the Doctor reached out and grabbed the Judge's hand, pulling her on and pushing Amy ahead of them to the small niche they'd been in before, seeing the Dalek moving its laser arm to fire at them.

"Intruder! Intruder!"

They waited only a moment, hearing a clicking noise of a failed attempt to fire and peeked out at the Dalek, its laser arm still twitching but no blast coming from it.

"It's damaged," the Doctor murmured as he stepped out, the two women after him.

"Ok, but what do we do?" Amy frowned.

"Identify me!" the Doctor called to it, "Access your files, who am I? Come on, who's your Daddy?"

"Did you really just say that?" the Judge shook her head at the Doctor. He grinned and winked at her but she just gave him an odd look for it, making his grin slip away slightly.

"You... are... the Predator," the Dalek stated, pulling his attention back to it.

"Access your standing orders concerning the Predator," he ordered.

"The Predator must be destroyed."

"And how are you going to do that?! Dalek without a gun, you're a tricycle with a roof! How are you going to destroy me?!"

"Self-destruct initiated!"

"You HAD to ask that," the Judge muttered.

The Doctor's grin turned sheepish as he rushed forward, flashing the Dalek with the sonic.

"What's it doing?!" Amy gasped.

"Really?" the Judge looked at her, "It just said 'self-destruct' and you're asking what it's doing?"

"It's going to blow itself up and us with it," the Doctor answered though, "Only weapon it's got left."

"Self-destruct cannot be countermanded," the Dalek stated as the Doctor managed to pop the top of its casing open.

"I'm not looking for a countermand, dear," the Doctor grinned, dropping the case after he flashed the Dalek within, "I'm looking for reverse."

"Forwards!" the Dalek shouted as it started to roll backwards, away from them, "For…wards! For…wards! For…wards!"

The Judge winced as the Dalek flew into the other room moments before it exploded, shaking the room and sending a waft of dust through the doorway, "Interesting," she murmured, glancing at the Doctor to see him pouting, "What?"

"I was hoping for brilliant," he remarked with a small smile.

"Clever," she offered.

"I'll take that," he gave a soft chuckle…only for Amy to take a step forward to investigate what the room was like and collapse beside him, forcing him to lunge forward to catch her, "This though, not good is it?" he glanced at her.

The Judge quickly pulled her wrist band off and moved to Amy's side as he scooped the human into his arms, "Well she's been without this for too long," she quickly snapped her band around Amy's arm, covering her wrist with her jacket once more.

"But you…"

"We're Time Lords," she glanced up at him, "At the very least we'll have more time. And besides," she glanced at Amy, "She's too angry and hurt from what is happening with Rory, she'll convert faster than I would."

He eyed her closely, shifting Amy in his arms, "Would she?"

She looked into his eyes for that one, knowing he was asking more about whether Amy was angrier and more hurt than SHE was at that present point in their lives. He wasn't asking if Amy would convert faster in that sense, he was asking if SHE was angry and hurt enough to be converted in the first place, "_She_ would," she answered.

He gave her a small smile for that, seeming relieved at what she revealed in her answer. Whatever it was she was feeling, whatever it was that was keeping her from allowing him to touch her, that made her shy away from him…it wasn't anger and hurt and hate that did it. That was…something, that was good, that was something he could work with.

He glanced over at the doorway, the smoke starting to settle and started to head in that direction, knowing they had to move forward instead of back as the corpses were still coming.

"Oswin?!" they could hear Rory's voice calling through the dust and headed in that direction, "What happened?! Who killed all the Daleks?"

The Doctor smiled ruefully at Rory as the dust cleared enough to see the other man, "Who do you think?"

~8~

The Doctor gently set Amy down on a circular pad the Time Lords recognized as a teleport that was hidden in the room that Rory had been hiding in, the Judge and Rory standing behind him.

"Will sleeping help her?" Rory frowned, "Slow down the process?"

"You'd better hope so," Oswin's voice came out from above them.

"I doubt it will," the Judge frowned, "In our sleep our minds are at rest, could give it a foothold to take her over."

"It…" the Doctor turned to her with a frown, but the Judge held up a hand behind Rory's back to quiet him. He gave her a confused look, she'd put her wrist band on Amy, the conversion was stopped. But she just put a finger to her lips as Rory crouched down beside Amy, holding her hand and trying to rouse her at the mention of that.

The Doctor started to smile when he saw how tenderly Rory was treating Amy, stroking her hair and holding her hand and glanced at the Judge again, understanding the need for silence now. It didn't even matter that this was the first time actually meeting Rory and Amy as they normally were, it was sort of clear, even looking at Rory and Amy how they truly did still feel for each other deeply.

He was hoping that it wouldn't make him a terrible person to hope that Rory and Amy weren't the only ones who still felt very deeply for each other.

It was madness, he knew, but then again he'd been a madman with a box for centuries now, but…the moment he saw the Judge again, she'd always, always, always been in the back of his mind. Whenever he got to know a new companion, like Martha or Donna or Amy, his first thought was if she'd like them, if she'd get on with them well. He always held out the hope that she would one day travel with him and he was always trying to keep in mind if the companions would be someone she'd feel comfortable around, in a way he knew that she wouldn't have with Rose. Rose had been right, 100%, in her assessment of the situation. He and Rose had gotten close and while he genuinely wasn't sure just how close, he knew a few people likely thought they were together, knew, from how Rose acted as he tried to close the Void, that she wanted to be together with him. But he knew, in his hearts of hearts, that it would never actually happen. He might care for his companions, love them in their own unique way, but…he really had come to love the Judge so deeply on Gallifrey, no one would compare to the relationship they'd forged.

It would have been inordinately awkward for the three of them to be in the TARDIS and…he'd heard them. Rose didn't know, but he'd heard everything that Jackie had said to her in the TARDIS when he'd been setting up his scanners to trap a 'ghost.' He'd heard Jackie remarking how Rose had changed. He saw it too, how much she had started acting like him (or trying to), and talking like him (or trying to), or thinking like him (or trying to), and he knew that she wouldn't have been able to endure a life on Earth without the action of the TARDIS. He wouldn't have been able to just leave her back in the Powell Estates, all three of them would be stuck in that little, bigger-on-the-inside box, and it was nowhere NEAR France.

But still, the Judge had stuck with him through it all. He found himself constantly coming back to Earth, dropping into Torchwood, just wanting to check on her. But the problem was…he never knew how to tell his companions about her either. He didn't want to overwhelm her with the women he took on his adventures with him, if he told them about his wife, they'd want to meet her, they'd insist and he'd feel obligated to take them and…he knew that even though she wasn't travelling with her, that it still did hurt her that he was travelling with other women. It was a catch-22 of sorts. So he never said a word. It had been easier with Rose there, it took the attention off him, the companions had someone else to talk with. But when he'd gotten to Amy, that had been complicated, because there was also River to deal with. He knew that River was aware he was married, well, HE was aware now, in hindsight, that she had known all along that his wife was alive. She never let on though. She had flirted with him and acted like she was very close to him, and perhaps she was, she was the daughter of his companions, she was his responsibility in a way.

But he never responded, at least not in the way he was sure she might be hoping. In a way, he felt she already knew her attempts wouldn't work. She never seemed surprised when he'd remark in a less than flirty tone, when he shrugged off her attempts to be closer to him. She knew that he was married, she had as flirty a personality as her mother, but the common sense of her father. She realized it was a lost cause to flirt with him, but couldn't help it. Amy had seemed confused as to why though, because River was a lovely woman and she couldn't seem to understand why he wasn't responding to River's advances…and why River didn't seem to be fighting as hard as they both knew the woman could for him.

He was relieved she hadn't, not because he thought he'd be tempted, but because he knew it would only hurt River in the long run. He did see it, the brief flashes of hurt when she'd try to flirt with him and fail. It had been even more obvious when he'd been investigating the Silence, when he'd run into her on Easter Island or with Jim the Fish, when she might try something and he'd make a comment or mention the Judge, mention his wife. He saw the hurt flash in her eyes when he'd mention his wife to others, when he'd deny that he and River were together because he was married to someone else. He knew it couldn't be helped and he knew that River should have been aware that he had never and could never, would never, be hers no matter if she was half-Time Lord or not. It hurt in the sense that she was Amy and Rory's daughter and he didn't want to hurt any Pond.

"Well that's wonderfully," Oswin sighed, "Because she'll just to try and kill you sooner."

"Amy?" Rory called as Amy slowly began to come around.

"Ow…" Amy mumbled.

"Amy, you're still with us," the Doctor eyed her, standing to let Rory be her focus, not wanting to get in the way of what he was hoping would be a Pond reconciliation.

"Amy, it's me, do you remember me?" Rory asked her…only to be slapped, "She remembers me."

"Same old Amy," the Doctor chuckled.

"Are all your companions violent?" the Judge eyed Amy warily.

The Doctor laughed at that, draping his arm around the Judge's shoulders, knowing she was probably thinking of their people's thoughts on humans, that they were rather…unintelligent, violent, somewhat useless at times. He knew she didn't fully carry the prejudice as much as their people usually did, but he knew she had a hard time seeing their potential.

Sometimes, though, he had to wonder if there was more to it than that, more to her feelings on humans than he was seeing.

But he quickly pulled his arm away when the Judge gave him an odd look for his move, like a cross between discomfort and questioning why he was doing that. He cleared his throat and let his arm fall to his side.

"Do you know how you make someone into a Dalek?" Oswin wondered, "Subtract love, add anger. Doesn't she seem a bit too angry to you?"

"Well!" Amy huffed, slowly sitting up, "Somebody's never been to Scotland."

"What about you though, Oswin?" the Doctor turned, looking up at the Dalek camera, "How come you're ok? Why hasn't the nano-cloud converted you?"

"I mentioned the genius thing, yeah?" Oswin countered, "I'm shielded in here."

"Interesting…" the Judge eyed the Dalek camera as well.

"What is?"

"A clever human," the Judge cracked a small smile, "What a novel idea."

"Oi!" Amy grumbled behind her.

"This place," the Doctor picked back up, to hedge off an argument, best to play along like it wasn't good for Amy to get too angry, "The Daleks said it was fully automated. But look at it, it's a wreck."

"Well, I've had nearly a year to mess with them and not a lot else to do," Oswin sighed.

"A junior entertainment manager, hiding out in a wrecked ship...hacking the security systems of the most advanced warrior race the universe has ever seen?" the Doctor smiled, "I agree with the Judge," he winked back at her, but she crossed her arms across her chest and gave him an awkward smile, "You are clever Oswin," he turned back to the camera, "But you know what really gets me about you? The soufflés! Where do you get the milk for the soufflés? Seriously," he looked back at them, "Is no one else wondering about that?"

"No," Rory answered, "Frankly, no. Twice."

"Yes, actually," the Judge cut in, giving the Doctor a warning look, "But it would be best not to explain the milk till we're all safely away, don't you think Doctor?"

"Right," he snapped his fingers and pointed to her, "Yes."

"So…Doctor," Oswin called, not sounding like she cared about the milk conundrum, "I've been looking you up. You and Plaidy."

"Thanks," the Judge gave a small laugh at that, at least it wasn't 'Judy' again.

"Not a problem," Oswin cheered, "Couldn't find much of you, Plaidy. But you Doctor, you're all over the Database. Why do the Daleks call you the Predator?"

"I'm not a predator, just a man with a plan," the Doctor grinned up at the camera.

"You've got a plan?" Oswin asked, skeptical.

"We're all ears," Rory stated dryly.

"There's a nose joke going, if anyone wants to pick that one off," Amy muttered.

"Have they seen a photo of your post-war self?" the Judge turned to the Doctor.

"Ha ha, no," he deadpanned, pointing a mock-warning finger at her, "And we shall not be showing them one," he added, before focusing, "In no particular order, we need to neutralize all the Daleks in this asylum, rescue Oswin from the wreckage, escape from this planet, and fix Rory and Amy's marriage..."

"Ok," Amy sighed, "I'm counting three lost causes, anyone else?"

The Judge frowned slightly as Rory slapped his knee in frustration and pushed himself up to walk away, she was starting to hope that their little plan would work for the Ponds. Or was it Williams? That was usually how the humans did it, wasn't it? The husband's name?

"Oswin, there's a Dalek ship in orbit," the Doctor spun to face the camera.

"Yeah, got it on the sensors," Oswin agreed.

"The Asylum has a force-field. The Daleks upstairs are waiting for me to turn it off. Soon as I do, they'll burn this world and us with it," he clapped, "So, Oswin, my question is this. How fast can you drop the force field?"

"Oh here we go," the Judge murmured, rubbing her forehead as the Ponds stared at the Doctor. THIS was precisely the reason she'd refused to allow him to travel off world for the better part of the start of their marriage. His 'plans' were even worse than his 'things' and…it DID explain why, practically every time he returned to Gallifrey, he was in a different incarnation.

"Pretty fast," Oswin answered, "But why would I?"

"Because this is a teleport, am I right, Oswin?" the Doctor knelt down and began to scan the circular panel on the floor.

"Yeah. Internal use only."

The Doctor grinned and snapped his fingers, pointing up, "I can boost the power, though," he got down on his hands and knees and began to flash the underside of it, "Once the force field is down, and we can use this to beam us right off this planet."

"But you said, when the force field is down, the Daleks will blow us up," Rory frowned.

"We have to be quick," the Doctor countered simply.

"Fine, we'll be quick, but where do we beam to?" Amy argued.

"The only place within range," the Doctor grinned.

The Judge closed her eyes, "Please tell me you don't mean the Parliament of the Daleks?"

"That's the one," he pointed at her.

"The Parliament where they exterminate us on the spot," Amy added.

"This is the kind of escape plan where you survive four seconds longer?" Rory guessed.

"What's wrong with four seconds?" the Doctor blinked innocently, "You can do lots in four seconds. Oswin!" he popped up, "How fast can you drop the force field?"

"I can do it from here," Oswin replied, "As soon as you come and get me."

"No, just drop the force field and come to us," the Doctor stood up.

"There's enough power in that teleport for one go. Why would you wait for me?"

"Why wouldn't we?"

"No idea, never met you."

"We have a verbal agreement," the Judge tried to offer, "We wait, if you drop the force field. I wouldn't let them break that, not for anything," she looked at the camera, "In the middle of a Dalek battlefield? Our word is all any of us have."

Oswin was silent for a long while before speaking again, "Sending you a map so you can come get me."

The Doctor sighed and moved over to one of the computer screens on the walls, looking at the map as Rory frowned at the camera, "This place is crawling with Daleks."

"Yeah. Kind of why I'm anxious to leave. Come up and see me some time."

They were silent for a long while before the Judge sighed, "Don't tell me, you're going after her?"

"I don't think that I have a choice," the Doctor mumbled, before turning to them, "Ok, soon as the force field is down, the Daleks will attack. If it gets too explodey-wodey in here, you go without me, ok?" he handed the Judge the teleport control.

"No," she passed it on to Rory, "I'm going with you."

"No," the Doctor gave her a sad smile and reached out, taking both her hands in his, ignoring the pang in his chest at how she was holding his hands back, "You're not."

She frowned, eyeing him, "And why not?"

His smile grew sadder, "Because I'm about to face the Daleks and if you come with me…I'll want to protect you," he squeezed her hands, "And you…won't want that."

"You can't know what I…"

"You're not holding my hands," he leaned in slightly, whispering to her as he squeezed her hands again, the two of them looking down to where she really did just have her hands rested in his but not holding them. He looked back up at her, managing a smile, "_It WILL happen, Carah,_" he added in Gallifreyan, "_I will want to protect you, I don't…I can't handle this,_" he squeezed her hands a third time, "_Happening when I do._"

She swallowed hard, "_I'm sorry,_" she murmured.

He nodded, not about to even begin to say he understood why this was happening, but knowing that she genuinely was sorry for it, "Stay here," he switched to English, "Watch the Ponds. Get them out of here if something happens."

"And leave you to die?" Rory cut in with a frown.

"I would be able to bring the TARDIS down once the field is dropped," the Judge remarked, stepping back from the Doctor, her hands sliding out of his hold and coming to settle on the sides of her legs where she rubbed her pants, "Get to him before the planet was destroyed."

"Oh well," Rory blinked, having forgotten that she was a Time Lady, it was fairly easy to forget when he'd spent all of 5 minutes with the woman, "Right…but what about Amy?"

"I'll be here Rory," the Judge turned to him, "We just have to keep her remembering the good things, love," she glanced between the two of them, "And that will postpone the nano-genes."

"Exactly," the Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at Amy, "They're subtracting love. Don't let them," he gave them all a wink and turned to go, pointing one more finger at Rory and gesturing to the Judge, waiting till he handed over the controls to the woman before he dashed off.

"Well then," the Judge took a breath, clutching the controls in her hand and looking at the Ponds, "Anyone up for marriage counseling?"

It wasn't till after she'd spoken those words that she realized she was probably the worst person to be having this talk.

~8~

The Judge was truly starting to question the Doctor's sanity, especially in relation to his choice to travel near-exclusively with humans. She had always disagreed with the many claims that her husband was a 'madman,' it was hard to see him as that when one had met the Master, but she was starting to think there was some merit to that now. She was sitting on the edge of the teleport pad, the controls on her lap, her back to Amy and Rory, as she massaged her temples in an effort to relieve the headache. ALL the Ponds had done since the Doctor had left was argue. Well, it was more Rory trying to talk about the good times in their past, as the Doctor had mentioned, but Amy was responding with very cold, monotone, monosyllabic answers, which was irritating Rory to no end. He was pacing, he'd paced so much that she had literally gotten a headache watching him and had to turn away.

So far the 'marriage counseling' she'd been attempting to help them with had not worked. She shouldn't have expected it to either though. What did she really have to go off of? A husband she was forced to marry, who spent the majority of his life flying about space and time getting into trouble, growing more estranged from him? They weren't exactly the poster children for happy, healthy, working marriages. Not at the moment at least. Not counting how he hadn't ever specifically said the words 'I love you' to her, there HAD been a point on Gallifrey where they HAD been that, happy, healthy, working, thriving even.

That was gone now though, or so it felt.

"Ok," Rory let out a sigh and she could hear him finally stop pacing, and glanced back at him to see him looking at Amy, "Look at me," Amy, who had been staring off to the side turned to him as well, "I'm going to be logical. Cold and logical, ok?"

That would be a first, the Judge had to mutter to herself in her head, humans were hardly ever. They were overemotional and rather rash. If the Doctor was a fan of mistakes and blunders and the excitement that could add to an adventure, which she knew he was, then she supposed it explained slightly his fondness for humans. They made situations almost as dangerous as the Doctor's very presence did.

"For both of our sakes, for both of us, I'm going to take this off my wrist," Rory held up his wrist band, "And put it on yours."

And there was that rashness and overemotional quality that Rory had just claimed he wasn't going to take part in. SHE had done the same, had taken off her wristband, but as a Time Lord she knew what she was doing, she knew how the nano-genes would react to her, she knew what would happen. Rory seemed to be acting on the instinct to save his (ex?)wife instead of actually thinking this through.

"Why?" Amy stopped him from doing that, "It'll just start converting you, that's not better."

"Yeah," Rory agreed and the Judge nodded her head slightly, perhaps she'd underestimated the humans, did that make them better or worse to know something was utterly stupid and do it anyway? But then again…the Doctor, "But it buys time. Because it'll take longer with me."

"Sorry, what?!" Amy demanded, actually seeming like she'd nearly been slapped by the accusation.

"It subtracts love. That's what she said."

"What's that got to do with it? What does that even mean?!"

"Rory…" the Judge tried to cut in, "Be careful. You're getting her worked up."

It wasn't even a real warning, it sounded slightly hollow to her, she was saying it more because she knew, as a Time Lady, that it would be expected for her to try and help the humans at least. But really, it was more just a small reminder to Rory that if he didn't pick his words carefully, Amy would likely ignore him.

"I know, I know," he nodded, "But it's the truth. It's just arithmetic. It'll take longer with me, because we both know," he glanced at Amy, "We've both always known," he sighed and crouched down before his (ex?)wife, "Amy, basic fact of our relationship is that I love you more than you love me. Which, today, is good news, because it might just save both of our lives."

Amy gaped at him, utterly offended, "How can you say that?!"

"2,000 years, waiting for you, outside a box!" Rory stood.

"The…Pandorica?" the Judge asked, vaguely recalling the Doctor mentioning it when he'd come to visit her once. He always summarized his trips with his companions after they left. He'd seek her out and talk to her about them, not in detail, he mostly tried to keep the conversation on HER and the events she was a part of, but she did recall something like the fairytale Pandorica.

Rory nodded at that, but kept his focus on Amy, "Saying it because it's true, and since you know it's true, give me your arm..." he reached out for her army but Amy pulled it back, "Amy!" and then slapped him.

"Don't you dare say that to me," Amy hissed at him, glaring, "Don't you ever dare!"

"Amy, you kicked me out!" Rory countered.

"The truth," the Judge cut in gently, looking at both of them, "Is usually the best," she murmured, thinking on her own words as she stood, "Keeping things hidden? Arguing isn't what leads to a marriage ending, it's NOT talking that does it."

She glanced at the two humans before she got up and moved away, trying to give them more privacy as she considered her own advice, glancing at a monitor where she could see the Doctor walk past, tugging on his bowtie to straighten it, a small grin on his face before he left.

"You want kids," Amy turned to Rory, quiet, tears in her eyes, and the Judge knew this was it, the quiet, the quiet in Amy's voice, humans always underestimated just how powerful a soft word was instead of a shout, more powerful than anything, because you HAD to listen to hear it, "You have always wanted kids, ever since you WERE a kid," she looked at Rory, sniffling, "And I can't have them."

Rory stared at her as she turned away, "I know," he stated, as though he couldn't imagine what the problem with that was.

"Whatever they did to me at Demons Run," Amy choked back a sob and looked at him, tears spilling from her eyes, "I can't ever give you children. I didn't kick you out. I gave you up."

The Judge closed her eyes at those words, so similar but so different to another marital situation she knew of…

"Amy," Rory shook his head, "I don't..."

"Don't you dare talk to me about waiting outside a box," Amy looked up at him, "Because that is nothing, Rory," she got up, "Nothing...compared to giving you up!"

Rory nodded silently at that, before he took a step towards her, reaching for her arm, "Just give me your arm, let me put this on you…"

But Amy pulled back, "No, get off me!"

"Just give me your arm!"

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Amy shouted.

"Amy," the Judge called lightly, making the humans look at her as she smiled smally at them, "Look at your arm."

Amy frowned but looked down at it, pushing up her sleeve to see there was a wrist band already on it, "What…"

The Judge just held her own arm up, pushing her sleeves back so they could see she wasn't wearing a wrist band at all.

"But the nano-genes…" Rory shook his head.

"I'm a Time Lady," she shrugged, dropping her hands, "Made of tougher stuff than humans," she held up her hand to stop the 'Oi!' she knew was coming from Amy, "We have to be to endure the exposure to the Time Vortex. Harder to convert than a human, possibly impossible to."

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Amy eyed her.

"Often it is when we think our spouse about to die that we are most honest with them," she smiled sadly once more, before her gaze drifted between the two of them, her smile becoming more genuine, "Well, what do you know? Marriage counseling actually worked."

Now there was just one more marriage that needed counseling.

~8~

The Judge was sitting on the teleport pad where Amy had been sitting, facing the doorway the Doctor had gone through. She knew that Amy and Rory were likely watching her in concern for how she was doing it. She had the teleport controls on her lap, her one leg bobbing up and down in nerves, her eyes fixed on that bloody door willing it to open, not even looking up when an explosion went off and the room shook. She knew what it was, the Doctor. She had kept tabs on him, sensed him through the bonds they shared as husband and wife, just…wanting to make sure he'd truly be alright. She was regretting it now, she was regretting not having gone after him to face Oswin.

She could admit, at first she'd had only a small idea about why he was focusing so much on the milk that Oswin used for the soufflés, but she'd worked it out after a time. Oswin was a Dalek, or had been converted into one. It was the only way a human could hack into their systems the way Oswin did, the only way they'd be connected enough to the Daleks and the systems that she was. And the Doctor was walking right towards her to tell her it. She knew that he had hope that he was wrong, but she doubted it. He was, infuriatingly enough, more often right than wrong. He would have to tell Oswin, just a 26 year old girl, that everything she thought about her life for the last year was just a dream. She knew that he'd be scared and worried, that he'd have to face down a Dalek and, in revealing Oswin's reality the girl herself might be lost and turn completely Dalek.

She should have been there, but she wasn't. And now, she could feel it around her, the force field had been dropped. The Doctor had gotten through to Oswin, but the Daleks were attacking now, trying to destroy the Asylum and she was waiting for the Doctor to get back to them.

Rory glanced at the Judge, seeing how tightly the teleport controls were clutched in her hands, her knuckles turning white, "How long can we wait?"

But the Judge didn't even glance at him, didn't seem to have even heard him, so Amy turned to him, "The rest of our lives," she answered.

Rory smiled, "Agreed!" before they leaned in and kissed.

The Judge didn't even need to turn around to know they were, she could hear it. It was rather uncomfortable to hear, but soon enough she was distracted, jumping to her feet when the Doctor ran in. He paused only a moment, beaming at her but with a sad quality to it, before he hopped onto the teleport pad that the Ponds were standing on, seeming about to reach out to her to help her on before thinking better of it and changing his tactic, hiding his already reaching hand by turning it palm open for the teleport controls. The Judge stepped on with him, handing it over.

The Doctor looked up at the Ponds, rolling his eyes at how they were STILL kissing, before he merely slapped his hand down on the button, sending them off the planet and right back into the TARDIS just as the planet exploded beneath them.

"The Asylum is destroyed!" they could hear the white Dalek, its voice deeper than the others, call from beyond the doors.

"Incoming teleport from Asylum planet!" another Dalek shouted, "We are under attack!"

"Prepare to defend! Defend! Defend!"

"Explain, Dalek Supreme!" the PM ordered.

The Doctor glanced back and forth from the doors to the Ponds to the Judge to the doors.

"Doctor," the Judge called, offering him a knowing smile, "Go."

He beamed at that and rushed for the doors, shouting, "You know, you guys should really have seen this coming. Thing about me and teleports, I've got a really good aim. Pin-point accurate, in fact. Or to put it another way..." he stepped out of the TARDIS, the Daleks just visible through the doors, "Suckers!"

"Identify yourself!" one of the Daleks cried, making the Judge blink and frown at that, "Identify! Identify!"

"What?" the Judge frowned, stepping closer to the doors, down the small steps that led to it but no closer.

"Well, it's me!" the Doctor spoke, "You know me! The Doctor! The Oncoming Storm? The Predator?"

"Titles are not meaningful in this context," Darla stated, "Doctor who?"

"Doctor who?" the PM asked.

"Doctor who?" the white Dalek demanded.

"Doctor?" the Judge frowned.

He glanced back at her and then to the other Daleks as it hit him, "Oh, Oswin," he grinned, "Oh, you did it to them all! Oh, you beauty!"

"DOCTOR WHO?!" the Daleks cried, "DOCTOR WHO?"

"Fellas, you're never going to stop asking," he laughed and shut the doors, stepping back in and walking towards the rather confused Judge.

"What's going on?" she asked him.

"Oswin," he answered, "I was cornered by some old, er, friends. She hacked into their databanks and erased me from them. But she did more than just those few Daleks, she did ALL of them."

"Impressive," the Judge had to admit, though technically it wasn't all Oswin, it wasn't all human, that had done it, but some of her Dalek aspects as well.

The Doctor just grinned and glanced at the Ponds, still kissing, and shook his head, heading to the console, he should probably get them home to sort the rest of their marriage out, now that it was clearly doing well again.

~8~

The Doctor looked at the Judge as she stood on the other end of the console and tried to make his smile seem happy. He should be happy, the Ponds were safe and back on Earth, their marriage was on its way to being fully mended, and a rather nasty bunch of Daleks had been obliterated while all the rest had no idea who he was. But he just…couldn't quite seem to make his smile genuinely happy, now when he knew what he was going to have to offer the woman across from him.

"So!" he clapped, walking over to the Judge, "Back to Torchwood then?"

She looked at him a long while, able to see the falseness in his smile instantly though, "No."

He blinked, "No?"

"I…think I'd like to stay."

He started to smile but tried to play it off as casual, "Oh?"

She nodded, "The Ponds ARE leaving and…" she sighed, "We've been apart for far too long. I really would like to stay, if you'll have me."

His smile fully bloomed as he looked at her, reaching out to take her hand and just holding it, "I'd love it. I…I was hoping you would."

"Did you forget the deal?" she teased slightly, though she pulled her hand away gently, "I did say I'd travel with you when they left."

He nodded, "I know," he told her, "I just…" he glanced at her hands, rubbing against her legs and back to her, "I thought you would change your mind."

"Why?"

"You…you don't seem to really want to be around me, anymore," he glanced away, shifting slightly in place.

The Judge nodded slowly, seeing him glancing at her hands and knew why he thought that. She hadn't exactly been very allowing of his touches nor giving off the impression that she wanted him near her, "It's not that Theta."

"Then what?" he looked at her quickly, his voice not harsh but genuinely curious, a small hint of desperation in it, "What can I do Carah? What have I done?"

"It's not you," she reassured him, "Not in the way you're thinking at least."

"Then tell me. Please?" he leaned his head to the side to catch her eye as she tried to look away.

She sighed, "I don't…know how to…do this, anymore," she admitted quietly, gesturing between them, before holding up her hand quickly to keep him from interrupting, "I don't know how to be a wife to you," he opened his mouth to speak but she appeared to be on a roll and kept on, but that was just so her, she was always hesitant to speak but when it first got put out there she'd just keep going and blurt it all out in one go, "It was different on Gallifrey. We knew who we were, we knew where we stood, we had a life and expectations and understanding and stability, routine, comfort and…we had each other. We knew where we stood. And now?" she shook her head, "I don't know you anymore. You don't know me. We…we're different now. Everything is different. The war changed us all and I just…I don't know how to act around you, how to talk to you. I look at you, Theta, and I know you're my husband but I can't help but, at times, see just…a stranger, a Time Lord instead. And I can never know when you look at me what you're seeing either. Am I…a…a wife to you? A friend? Just another Time Lady? Do you look at me and see a fellow of our species or just another companion or…"

"You could never be just another companion, Carah," he cut in gently, reaching out and taking her hands, knowing now what was bothering her, "You could never be. You will always be my wife," he looked into her eyes, "But I agree," he sighed, "We…we're both different now, our lives are different, our worlds are different. Everything is different and…I think we need that. I think we need to BE different too."

She frowned in confusion up at him, "What do you mean?" she wondered.

They were always different...and that was part of the problem. After he'd left Gallifrey to explore, he'd returned always as a different person, never staying long enough for her to get to really know him. 7 times he'd regenerated before the war, compared to the 2 she'd regenerated as. And then after the war? She'd regenerated 8 times after it ended where he'd only regenerated about 2 times. Now they were just...so far apart, so different, they hadn't had a chance to get to know any of their incarnations past the first ones and it was just...hard. She didn't know this him, she didn't know how to act around him, and it seemed neither did he. Because he tried to act like they had when their marriage had settled, but she wasn't that girl anymore, and their marriage wasn't what it was.

"When we first got married," he swung their hands slightly, "We were forced into it, thrown into it. We'd only met once before we were supposed to be married and it was when you were introduced to my brother. We barely knew a thing about each other and we were just…expected to BE husband and wife. We weren't anything before that and…I don't want that to happen again. It took us…longer than I think either of us wanted to find that common ground, to grow that relationship that we ended up with. I don't want that again, I don't want to be those people, those two strangers who were forced to wed and just thought to be husband and wife. I don't want another relationship that was based on nothing but a piece of paper."

"Then what do you propose we do?" she asked.

"We will always be husband and wife," he stated, nodding slowly with what he was saying, "Always. But…we don't have to act like that, not just yet, not if we're not ready. Why don't we take this as the second chance I think we both want it to be. Why don't we…start as friends," he offered, "Why don't we start off getting to know each other this time, actually build something together and then, later, when we're both ready, we can call each other husband and wife again and…and have the marriage we always should have had," he smiled softly at her, "I do love you Carah, and I do want you to be happy, I always have. I want our marriage to be built on that, love and happiness and trust. I think we deserve that after all this time, I think we owe it to ourselves to try for that."

"So…like a courtship, even though we're married already?" she tried to follow along.

"In a way," he nodded, squeezing her hands, his thumbs lightly stroking over the backs of them, "We get to know each other again, we build up our lives _together_, and, maybe, one day, I'll repropose," he joked, knowing that they hadn't even gotten that much, "And we can…renew our vows or get married again or just…do whatever we feel is US. The new us."

The Judge considered that a moment before she felt herself slowly starting to smile, "I'd like that," she murmured, he had always been one of the best men she knew and…she really would like the chance to get to know him again, to do this properly, to really be able to build something between them instead of have it all just put on them and be expected to go from there.

"Me too," he smiled widely at that, giving her hand one more squeeze, before he stepped back, "So…where do you want to go first?"

The Judge just laughed and shook her head, "Surprise me."

He beamed and ran to the console, pulling a lever, sending them off on their first mystery tour together.

A/N: I am so sorry there were no chapters the last 3 days, it was a...very, very stressful time with my family that I got trapped in the middle of. I just couldn't focus on editing the chapters but things calmed down this morning and I finally was able to just sit down away from them and get it done :)

As for this chapter, I hope you liked it :) I feel like, being apart so much, the Doctor and Judge are essentially strangers to each other again. It's always awkward, I think if you meet up with a friend or a past interest that you haven't seen in years and to have them being married and both having chosen to be away from the other at one point or another, they have a lot to work on and a deeper need to truly get to know each other and be familiar with the other again :) It's like they said, they barely knew each other and were just expected to be husband and wife instantly, and it caused MANY problems. Now they have a chance to properly build up their relationship to the point of marriage again.

But I can say, there will still be issues to come, some rather fun, others a little harder to deal with, but they'll be better and stronger in the end because of it :)

Some notes on reviews...

I think the Doctor was given another regeneration cycle, like there's 12 regenerations with 13 incarnations. So the 12th Doctor is the 1st of his second set of regenerations :)

I can say we'll find out what happened to Susan very soon ;) I can say that Judge knows Susan yup and has kept an eye on Susan's life after the Doctor left her, but how and why we'll have to wait to see ;) We'll also find out how many kids they had in the Power of Three ;)

I don't really feel connected to any one Time Lady, now that I think about it, there are little tiny parts of me in all of them but I try to keep them all so separate and individual that I can't really pick just one :)

Judge was uncomfortable with the Doctor because it's been...centuries since they've been together as a husband and wife and it's difficult to get back into that familiarity, especially after the war. She almost feels like their back to the start of their marriage where they didn't know each other very well. But she'll be better very soon...perhaps sooner than you think ;)

The Ponds will find out about the Judge and her time with the Doctor as the story goes yup :)

That's awesome :) We never really know what happened to Romana (in the show at least), last we saw she was in E-Space so she could have escaped the War ;) And that's cool with me :) I sort of took LJ to be biology, like people genetically look like their parents and, since Time Lords have so many bodies, it's a sort of gamble what the baby will be :) For Mac, I was actually SO scared the Doctor really would regenerate then, just to throw us off, because of what he said when he first confronted the Planner, that regeneration was a threat...till we found out he was out of them :( And that's cool about the gap, I always felt like if there were rifts in time and scars in time, there has to be more than one gap in time too :) I wish you he best of luck with your story! :)

Hmm...I feel like it would depend on when he meets the Time Ladies (what incarnation they're in) and which he's in to say which he'd feel a pull more for :) Like I doubt he'd be pulled towards the soldier-Proffy's or the 7th Mac, but an earlier him might have. There are so many possibilities :)

The skipping was definitely intentional, I was hoping it would create a disconnect with readers, like this tiny glimpse but not really knowing who the Judge is but we really don't know. I was hoping it would be awkward and feel like we're missing something, because that's how the Doctor and Judge feel, they really don't know who the other person is anymore and we get to see them bridging who they were with who they are as the story goes :) I didn't put the Imperial-Renegade Dalek War because I was not aware of it ;) I put in the events and small references that I know of, the Daleks appear so often and kill so many people that I didn't feel like they needed a past reference. There was also the Daleks who killed other Daleks in the Victory of the Daleks and in the Vault in Journey's End, the Dalek-Humans could even be argued to be Daleks killed by Daleks (like Sek too), and a few other cases in New Who too ;)

I'm ok :) I'm very excited to go to the Renaissance Fair on the 30th of August ^-^ SO excited! Time Traveler Weekend yay! :) It was more family issues getting to be too much. But thank you so much :) Your message put a smile on my face :)


	4. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - Part 1

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - Part 1

"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," the Judge huffed as she stalked through the halls of an Egyptian temple, circa the early 1330s BC, the Doctor being tugged along by the arm, the Judge's grip around his wrist as she nearly pulled his arm out of his socket to keep him walking.

He was grinning madly behind her, his eyes crinkling with mirth and amusement at how irritated she sounded. He would have laughed at her antics and reaction but he knew that would give him away and either make her stop, drop his hand, or turn to him and glower and he was actually more concerned about the second risk. Even though she wasn't exactly holding his hand, it was still something that she'd reached out for him and had yet to let him go. It was just…this entire thing was rather funny, because he knew _exactly_ why she was so bothered.

And it had nothing to do with the fact he'd accidently sparked an alien locust attack that they'd had to sort out and stop…and everything to do with the person trying to thank them for helping the people.

"We never should have come here," the Judge continued to grumble, "So we are leaving. Right now. I'll hear no complaints from you either Doctor."

"I wouldn't dream of it dear," he barely managed to keep the chuckle out of his voice, "Whatever makes you happy."

"Happy would have been leaving before the feast and dancing," she muttered, making him literally have to bite his lip and cover his mouth with his other hand to smother his laugh.

"Well we're leaving now," he offered.

"Yes, we are," she nodded firmly, rounding a corner where the TARDIS came into view and she visibly let out a breath of relief as she picked up the pace to hurry them towards it, "Finally."

The Doctor did let out a small chuckle this time as they reached the doors, pulling his key out to try and get it into the lock, the Judge waiting impatiently beside him, not having a key because, well…she was always rather bad at keeping track of the keys. Their homes on Gallifrey were fingerprint accessible or brainwave activated where the doors and locks were tuned to the brainwaves of those who lived within it and would open when they were closer. Keys, she had learned very early in her marriage to the Doctor, when he'd had the brilliant idea to try and adapt their home to fit like an earth home, with locks and actual keys, she lost them each and every time. It was one thing to do it on Gallifrey, especially after they reverted the home back to their prior locks, but it was another to lose the key to the TARDIS somewhere and have someone sneak in. So the Doctor was the one in charge of holding onto the keys.

It was ironic, they both had pockets yet HIS appeared to be able to hold everything he needed within it whereas hers, even being bigger on the inside, seemed to hold nothing as every time she needed something from it, it was never there.

Suddenly the Doctor was turned by a rather lovely woman in Egyptian garb and a traditional crown of the queen, "You think I'll let you leave without me," the woman murmured, pushing him against the doors of the TARDIS and running her hands along his chest as the Judge's mouth fell open and gaped at the woman's forwardness, "After what we've just been through?"

The Doctor reached up and grabbed the woman's hands from where they'd wandered to his hair, not really wanting the woman to touch him at all…especially not with how the Judge was now glaring at the woman, "You've got the Egyptian people to rule, Queen Nefertiti," he tried to tell her, keeping his hands curled around the queen's to keep her from touching him, only just realizing that his hands were free to do so as the Judge had, at some point in his shock, snatched the TARDIS key from him and was trying to unlock the TARDIS doors, "They'll need reassuring after that weapon-bearing giant alien locust attack we just stopped, rather brilliantly. Whoa!" he was suddenly yanked backwards, into the TARDIS as the Judge got the doors open, right at the same time that the sound of an old-fashioned car horn went off. He quickly spun around, hurrying after the Judge as they headed for the console, looking at the message, "Got it set to temporal newsfeed," he murmured to her, his eyes widening as he saw the note, "Oh, that's interesting!"

"What?" the Judge glanced at him and he held the note out to her to see.

"Never been there," he grinned at her, "Exciting eh?"

The Judge looked up at him, seeing him watching her eagerly and realized he was allowing her to decide whether they went on this adventure or not. They were trying to find a balance, a routine of sorts…not that travelling in a spaceship that seemed to hardly ever go where they wanted to was routine…but just trying to make everything more even. And while it never would be, not in the sense of the amount of travelling, she would have to pick every adventure for the next millennia it felt to be even to him, but they did want to alternate. He picked one trip, she picked another, but if there was something calling them somewhere, they BOTH had to agree to go there.

"I suppose we'll see," she offered with a small smile and he beamed, turning to pull a lever and send them off.

"Where are we journeying to?" a voice said from beside them.

They both looked over to see Nefertiti standing at the bottom of the steps up to the console, her arms crossed, a smirk on her face and the Doctor let out a breath.

He really needed to remember to shut the door.

~8~

2367AD was as opposite as Egypt as it could be. And that was where the Time Lords had ended up, in the middle of the military headquarters of Earth, in 2367, looking at a screen of a spaceship that looked like quite a few sticks in a ball with flat parts on the end as it rotated through space…but was headed for the Earth. And that was why they'd been called in via psychic paper, because the ship didn't appear to be about to stop any time soon and the humans were on the verge of panicking and had decided to call the Doctor in to handle the ship as they couldn't recognize what species it might have been from.

The Judge stood before one screen, her arms crossed, her head tilted to the side as she eyed the ship. She could understand the need for them to be there, the humans likely had no means of actually getting to that ship and getting inside it and see what was going on or why it was heading for them. She could see why the facility would call the Doctor in, with the TARDIS he would be one of the few that could get to the ship and likely help. She wasn't quite sure about their method of contacting him though. He'd explained to her that he had spent the last 100 years, just about, trying to erase himself from the history banks. It stood to reason that the facility in question shouldn't have even been able to contact him, but they had, they shouldn't have known about him, but they did. He'd revealed that there were a few organizations that knew he was still alive, but he'd sworn them to secrecy, he'd made them promise not to contact him unless it was something truly dangerous that they absolutely could not handle themselves. The fact that they HAD contacted him spoke volumes.

To the Doctor at least.

He was under the impression that the humans could handle so much, that they could come up with the most ingenious ways to solve a problem. She was more of the belief that they would be more likely to take the easy way out and just blow things up, whether it was a ship or a planet, they'd just…blow it all up. That or they'd make some sort of half-attempt and then call someone in to deal with their issues instead. She appreciated that humans tended to at least try to handle it themselves first but she was sure that there were at least half a dozen other things they could have done instead of call the Doctor in for this one.

"Craft size approximately ten million square kilometers," an older Indian woman was explaining from beside them, the Doctor standing next to the Judge as they eyed the information that had been gathered on the craft.

"A ship the size of Canada," the Doctor murmured, "Coming at Earth very fast."

"Have you been able to scan for life?" the Judge glanced at her, if they were hesitating to blow the ship up, then that had to mean there was something alive on there.

The woman nodded, "We sent up a drone craft, it took these readings," she tapped the screen and the reading shifted to the information the drone had collected.

"Crikey Charlie," the Doctor bent over to look at one particular reading, "Look at that!" he grinned at the Judge, but he noticed that her gaze was torn between focusing on the screens and flickering to the side where Nefertiti was standing, looking around in awe and appearing rather out of place, "Helps if you focus dear," he teased her.

The Judge glanced at him and gave him a smile that made his own fall slightly, not out of sadness but out of a tiny bit of fear. He knew that smile (was partially relieved it was the same, that he could still read that particular expression on her face), it was the smile she had when she'd gotten a rather particular idea. Often it came about when he would try to use the children against her, get them all to pout up at her with their big eyes to sway her to agree to something he'd wanted to do. It was her revenge smile.

"Oh I am focused," she remarked, "In fact, I'm so focused that I know exactly the person who can help us with this little adventure."

"The…Ponds?" he tried to guess, even though she'd said 'person' as in one.

"They can come as well," she shrugged.

His smile tensed, not quite sure which person she had in mind but knowing he probably wouldn't like it, "Haven't seen them in ages," he tried to keep it light though, to try and show he wasn't worried about what she was planning.

But her grin just grew and she patted his arm as she walked past him to enter the TARDIS and prepare the box for their next destination.

"Can you communicate with this craft?" Nefertiti wondered.

"She's…" the Doctor tried to think of a phrase, "A stowaway," he offered, "But with a rather good question," he turned to the woman for an answer.

"No," the woman shook her head, "No response on any channel in any recognized language. If it comes within 10,000 kilometers of Earth, we send up missiles."

That made his feeble attempt at a smile fade, "Oh, Indira, I liked you before you said missiles. How long till the ship gets that close?"

"Six hours, nineteen minutes."

"Right," he sighed, "Better get a shift on then! Leave it with us. Might as well keep with us, Neffy," the Doctor snapped his fingers at Nefertiti and gestured for her to follow him into the TARDIS, "We're going to need all the help we can get."

Though he was quite sure at least one person that was going to be helping them he wouldn't be pleased with, the Judge looked far too eager to get them to their next accomplice for him to feel comfortable.

~8~

1902 should have been a clue to the Doctor just who their next accomplice would be, especially when they ended up on the African Plains. But he honestly hadn't thought of John Riddell until the Judge was plopping down on a log beside the man as he sat before a fire, eating some stew and asking, "Might I have some stew?"

Riddell for his part, nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight of her sudden appearance as they had set the TARDIS down on silent, only barely refraining from spilling his stew all over himself, "Judy!" he grinned widely at her when he saw her.

The Doctor pouted at that, at how the Judge smiled back at Riddell and accepted a bowl of stew from him. She hadn't even grumbled about how Riddell was calling her 'Judy,' though, to be fair, he probably shouldn't have introduced them as Dr. John Smith and Judge Judy Smith either. They'd met the man recently, on a prior trip, actually very recently. They'd been on the African Plains as per the Judge's request just before they'd gone to Egypt. She had actually surprised him in the trips she was requesting they go on, most of them were centered around Earth and the humans. He would have thought that she'd be more keen to be out there on other planets and around other species. He'd actually been focusing his own trips around that at first, thinking it would make her more comfortable to be around more 'advanced' species. He'd thought that she had picked her trips to try and make HIM happy, because she knew he loved the humans.

But she'd surprised him in why she was picking Earth so often. She was trying to understand them. They WERE such a large part of his past and were something he was so fascinated about that she was just trying to understand why. She was trying to see what he saw in them, by going to different points and trying to be around them and just…see the wonders he saw. She was struggling to, she would admit to that, he knew, she was struggling to find what was so wonderful about them. But she was making an effort, and that meant so much to him. And it wasn't just the humans, it was the places as well. They'd been to quite a few focal points in the world of human travelers, the African Plains had been one of them, the only thing to keep an eye out for would be the animals. If only he'd known it wasn't just the animals that he should have kept an eye out for.

They'd run into John Riddell as he'd been hunting and he'd invited them to join him for a short while. HE had agreed, if just to keep him from actually hunting the animals, the Judge had as well in an attempt to find out why the humans seemed so focused on hunting and weapons. He knew she felt that, at the first turn of something difficult, the humans would reach for weapons and turn to violence and…despite his best efforts, he couldn't really and honestly convince her otherwise. He too had been around humans where, the second they were scared or threatened, the resorted to violence. The small group on the shuttle of Midnight, Ambrose Northover, and quite a few others came to mind. He couldn't deny that there was a small fear that, one day, the humans would attack someone and even worse consequences would come from it. He appreciated though, that the Judge was trying to understand WHY they did that.

He did not appreciate how Riddell seemed rather keen on the Judge though, not at all. The Judge didn't encourage the man at all, not ever, they were married and she wouldn't do that. But that didn't stop Riddell from teasing and flirting and trying. He could tell that the man was doing it in a more platonic way than truly meaning to try and lure her in, it was like he knew that it irritated the Doctor and he did it for fun. But it did irritate him.

And now he knew why she had decided Riddell would be a good choice. Because Nefertiti was NOT doing it in a platonic way when it came to him and HE was more amused by her reactions than he should have been. This was her little revenge, to irritate him the way she had been irritated, he was sure of that. He should have done more to put Nefertiti off but he hadn't, and the woman kept coming at him. But he was a nice bloke and he didn't like hurting people. He'd thought that not being interested at all would be enough, he'd even told the woman that the Judge was his wife…and forgotten that, at this point in time and for the culture Nefertiti came from, men could have more than one wife. So she hadn't quite seen that as a reason to stop pursuing him.

Looking back at it now, and realizing Riddell was likely going to be coming with them now, he most certainly should have done more to keep Nefertiti away from him.

"Where have you two been, man?!" Riddell looked up at the Doctor, "Seven months! You told me you were popping out for some licorice!"

The Judge blinked and looked at the Doctor, "Something you'd care to share about Doctor?"

He nearly groaned at that, he'd come up with some sort of excuse for her about why they had to leave the African Plains…and it had nothing to do with licorice, which had been the first thing that had popped into his mind when he'd told Riddell they were heading off.

"I had two very disappointed dancers on my hands!" Riddell added, grinning, "Not that I couldn't manage," he laughed, "Well, I could handle one of them, the other, the bloke, well…" he waggled his eyebrows at the Judge, trying to resist smirking at the narrowing of the Doctor's eyes.

"Riddell, listen," he cut in, moving to plop down on the other side of Riddell, "We've found...well, something."

"No, no, no, no, no, no," Riddell shook his head, "I shan't fall for that again."

"Please?" the Judge smirked.

"Well, how can I say no to that?" he laughed, winking at the Judge and turning back to the glowering Doctor, "What is it?"

The Judge had to shake her head at how the Doctor was acting. Riddell hadn't done a thing, not like Nefertiti had and he was getting all cross about it. She felt her small smile starting to fall though, not much but still a little bit, as she eyed him. If she was being entirely honest, she wasn't really sure what had possessed her to think of Riddell. They had an idea, judging by the life signs on the ship, that whoever was onboard had animals of some sort there. It was probably an error in judgment to select a 'big game hunter' as Riddell defined himself instead of someone like a veterinarian or something like that.

"We're not entirely sure," she offered, "I thought you might want to come with us to find out."

Riddell flashed a grin, "It's a date."

The Doctor huffed and pouted, crossing his arms at that.

~8~

The Judge had her hands braced on the console's edge, her head bowed, her eyes closed, silently praying to the Gallifreyan deities for strength when the Doctor decided it would be a brilliant idea to materialize around the Ponds, without warning, without checking to see if they were busy. One day, she was quite sure, he'd end up materializing and bursting into their bedroom or something in his excitement. She had tried to warn him that it was polite to check in first, to ensure they were willing to go on a trip but he had been far too eager and rushing about and she was starting to think the groaning noise the TARDIS made in reaction was exasperation, much like she felt. She was rather sad that she'd missed the chance to speak to the box when it had been in a woman named Idris's body, as the Doctor mentioned to her once. She would have liked the chance to speak to the woman and to get her thoughts on the Doctor over the last few centuries of being with him and also to thank her for taking care of him for her.

But right now she had little time to think on that as the Ponds appeared in the middle of the console room…with an older man between them standing on a ladder. She let out a long breath at the stunned look on the man's face and the worried ones on the Ponds and shook her head. She should have expected this when she'd brought Riddell into the TARDIS, the Doctor had instantly gone to find the Ponds instead of waiting and checking in on them first. It appeared he'd wanted more people there than just Nefertiti or Riddell and the Ponds were it.

She was only slightly confused as to why he kept going back for the Ponds. They were both trying to establish lives on Earth, she knew that, and it had been 10 months, according to the dates on Earth that they'd last seen the Ponds so they had likely fallen into some sort of routine and life without him by then. He DID have other companions he could have gone to, like Martha Jones or Jack or Sarah Jane Smith or Mickey Smith or so many others that were still alive but yet he was focusing only on the Ponds. But she did understand, Amy was the first face his current incarnation saw and it was rather like imprinting for animals, where the newborn saw the first face as their mother and established a deep connection to them. It was slightly different for Time Lords though, it was like…the first face was the start of your newest life. Often families, when one was regenerating, would gather together on Gallifrey so that they could start a new life as a family once more. The Doctor had been the first face she had seen when she'd regenerated the first time, her children being the first faces the second time and Jack had been the first the last handful of times. It was hard to walk away from that, to leave them, it was why she kept constant contact with Jack via the phones and video chatting that the TARDIS set up. But that was one form of contact that didn't intrude on his life. Jack was settling down slightly, getting used to life on Earth, still keeping an eye out for aliens and doing quite a bit of teaming up with UNIT as it was the last time she'd left him. He was coping and getting on and they were still good friends, but she was trying to let him live his life without her, because as much as she knew Jack would never be like a normal human again, what with his immortality, he was still human at heart and he NEEDED time around them to be like them again.

It was like with Rose, Jack had told her of some small conversations he'd had with Jackie Tyler when the Daleks stole the earth. Rose wasn't the same kind and caring human girl he'd met first, she'd changed, Jackie had feared she'd change even more while she'd been trapped in Pete's world trying to get back to her daughter, to become something more Time Lord or alien in personality and less…human. It was something Jack had taken to heart as well, he didn't want to lose what made him human and being around other humans helped. The Doctor kept plucking the Ponds out of their lives and dragging them back into this and she knew, she feared, that the Ponds might one day grow to resent this constant interruption.

It was hard to maintain friendships and build trust that obligations will be fulfilled, to be given responsibility and keep connections when they disappeared randomly and missed all sorts of appointments. The Ponds had to have other human friends and it wouldn't be doing them a service to start losing faith in the Ponds if they kept disappearing and not making contact for weeks or months on end. She really did have to talk to the Doctor about that one.

"Hello!" the Doctor's voice cut through her thoughts as he ran around the console around her like a chicken with his head cut off, and she knew it was partially in relief that the Ponds were there and partially because he just wanted to be the only one talking instead of allowing Riddell or Nefertiti the chance, "You weren't busy, were you? Well, even if you were, it wasn't as interesting as this probably is. Didn't want you to miss it. Now, just a quick hop. Everybody grab a torch!" he grabbed two from a small panel he'd opened on the side of the console and wiggling them at the Judge with a grin before dashing to the doors.

The Judge sighed and shook her head, shooting the Ponds an apologetic look as she headed off after him, she'd best get out there fast and make sure he didn't accidently blow something up or trigger some sort of alarm before they could even explore. She would have to leave explaining what was going on to the Ponds in this situation, leaving the Doctor to his own devices was not a good thing to do. She stepped out, hearing the others following and grabbing torches themselves, to see him crouched by a spider's web in the corner.

"Who do you think will scream first?" she asked as she walked over to him, gesturing at the spider.

"Good question," he smiled, handing her a torch, knowing she was joking, he doubted any of the others would scream at the sight of the tiny spider, "Spiders," he chuckled, "Don't normally get spiders in space."

The Doctor stiffened though when he heard an unfamiliar voice murmur, "What the..." from behind him.

He spun around, the Judge watching with a raised brow as one of his arms shot out in front of her as though he were trying to either keep her back or protect her before he stalked towards the man that had come with the Ponds, standing there just outside the TARDIS and staring at the darkened ship they'd stepped into, "Don't move!" he ordered the man, "D'you really think I'm that stupid I wouldn't notice? How did you get aboard? Transmat? Who sent you?"

"Doctor…" Rory sighed, "That's my dad."

"Well, frankly, that's outrageous," the Doctor spun to Rory.

"What?"

"You think you can bring your dad along without asking? I'm not a taxi service, you know!"

"He came WITH Rory, Doctor," the Judge called, walking over to them, eyeing Brian closely for a moment, "When you decided to literally drop in around them with no warning," she added to the Doctor.

"Oh, well, that's fine then, my mistake," the Doctor smiled as Rory rolled his eyes, and turned to the man again, "Hello, Brian, how are you?"

The Judge frowned as he began to shake Brian's hand, "So you DO know him then?"

"Of course, of course," he smiled, "Rory's father, Brian!"

"Then why did you…" she shook her head, not understanding how he knew the man's name was Brian but not recognized him.

"Bit grayer," the Doctor shrugged, tapping his hair, "Bit more round the middle, and did you get contacts Brian?" he asked the man, "Also haven't seen him in 300 years. Nice to meet you again, Brian," he continued shaking the man's hand, "Welcome, welcome!" before he spun around, "This is the gang. I've got a gang," he grinned at the Judge, "Yes! Come on then, everyone!" and started to walk off down the corridor with a call of, "Come along Judge!" over his shoulder.

The Judge sighed and glanced from the Doctor to Rory, "May want to explain this to him Rory," she warned, "The stars know what outrageous theory you humans would come up with about this," before she turned to hurry after the Doctor, ignoring the small huff that Rory gave at that.

"You really should have called ahead," she murmured as she caught up to the Doctor.

"Calling ahead is boring," the Doctor lamented playfully, glancing back and forward again, stepping just a smidge closer to her when he saw both Riddell and Nefertiti watching them.

"Alright," Amy rushed up to them when there was a small rumble and shaking, "Where are we, and what is that noise? And hello! Ten months!"

"Well, I would think it's obvious that we're on a spaceship of some sort," the Judge remarked, glancing at Amy, "You've been on at least 8 other ships…"

"We're orbiting Earth," the Doctor added, seeing Amy's lips pursing at the Judge's words, "Well, _I_ say orbiting, more like pre-crashing on a spaceship, don't know, and hello, Pond," he laughed and hugged her quickly, "Ten months is it?" he glanced at the Judge who nodded, "Time flies. Never really understood that phrase."

"We travel in a time travelling ship," the Judge gave him a small amused look, "Time is literally flying about because of it."

"Is THAT where that phrase comes from?" he started to grin, "Love that."

Amy shook her head, knowing that was likely not where the phrase had come from but not about to say it aloud, and glanced back at Riddell and Nefertiti, the former smirking and winking at her while the latter was watching her with narrowed eyes for how she was standing on the other side of the Doctor, and back to the Time Lords, "So…who are your new friends?"

"John Riddell," the Judge began.

"And Neffy," the Doctor finished, casting a small look at the Judge, "They're…stowaways."

"Well SHE is," the Judge corrected, "Riddell was invited."

"Technicalities," the Doctor muttered, visibly cross with that.

Amy eyed him curiously for the small pout she could hear in his voice, "Are they the new us? Is that why we haven't seen you?"

"No, they're just people," the Doctor said quickly, as though he were trying to answer before the Judge could, "They're not Ponds! Thought we might need a gang, not really had a gang before, it's new."

They slowed to a stop when they heard a grinding noise sounding before them, through a set of what looked like sliding double doors, "Sounds like a lift coming down," the Judge frowned at it.

"What is it?" Riddell asked, beside her instantly.

"No idea," the Doctor grumbled, stepping a little more to the left, making Amy step back and watch him curiously as he gently and subtly tugged the Judge closer to him.

Amy rolled her eyes at that, seeing his gaze flickering to Riddell and then to the Judge, before the doors started to open, a light shining through and nearly blinding them…till they realized there were two creatures within, roaring.

"Not possible!" Brian breathed as he and Rory caught up to them, staring in awe at the two dinosaurs, ankylosaurs standing within the lift.

"Run!" the Doctor ordered the humans who turned and took off, the Judge glancing between him and the dinosaurs, fidgeting like she wanted to run but wouldn't till he did.

"_Theta_…" she began cautiously.

"I know," he breathed, grinning madly, "Dinosaurs! On a spaceship!"

"Yes and that's just lovely, but we should really be off," the Judge muttered, grabbing his wrist and turning to pull him away. Even though that particular dinosaur was a herbivore, there were other dangerous aspects of the dinosaur, like its tail. She turned and pulled him down the hall after the humans, Nefertiti, Rory, and Brian ahead of them, Riddell waiting till they'd passed to take up the rear.

"In here!" Nefertiti called, seeing a small hall to the side and ducking down into it, all of them following her, sliding slightly on the floor and waiting.

The Doctor put a finger to his lips as the dinosaurs neared them, stomping by their small niche, their tails swinging side to side and knocking into the walls and columns of the ship.

Riddell slowly pulled out a large hunting knife as the dinosaurs stopped just parallel to their hiding spot, "I could take one of them, short blow, up into the throat," he whispered.

"Or not," the Doctor glared, "We've just found dinosaurs, in space. We need to preserve them."

"And who's going to preserve us?" Riddell countered, "I'd rather not see any of these fabulous ladies harmed."

The Doctor's lips pursed at that, having seen Riddell's gaze flicker to the Judge at that remark, but luckily the dinosaurs started to walk on their way again, their tails knocking into the walls and making some of the debris on the ceiling shake loose around them.

"Ok," Rory sighed as they slowly crept their way back into the hall after the dinosaurs left, "So, how? And whose ship?"

"Actually good questions," the Judge smiled at him.

"There's so much to discover!" the Doctor cheered, "Think how much wiser we'll be by the end of all this."

"So long as we don't run into any tyrannosaurus rexes," the Judge offered.

"Yes, there IS that."

"Sorry," Brian shook his head, "Sorry. Are you saying dinosaurs are flying a spaceship?"

The Judge sighed, "Not quite such a good question."

"Brian, please," even the Doctor chuckled at that though, "That would be ridiculous. They're probably just passengers. Did I mention missiles?"

"Missiles?!" Brian gaped.

"Didn't want to worry you," the Doctor shrugged.

"How would it keep them calm to know about it then?" the Judge countered.

The Doctor blinked, realizing that, before grinning sheepishly, "Anyway," he cleared his throat, "Six hours is a lifetime...not literally a lifetime, that's what we're trying to avoid. And we're all really clever!"

"Well some of us," the Judge remarked.

"More than you might think," the Doctor gave her a small pleading look to at least try to give the humans more of a chance.

She let out a long sigh, "_This isn't going to end well, Theta,_" she told him quietly, "_Humans in tense situations never react well._"

He reached out and took her hand for a moment, squeezing it, "_Some of them may surprise you,_" he offered back, "_The Ponds have been in enough tense situations to keep their heads_," he gave her hand another squeeze before letting it go, the two of them still trying to get more comfortable with touching each other again, "Let's see what we can find out," he spoke in English for the others, "Come on," he turned and led them down another hall, following his nose as he smelled something that reminded him of flowers into a room that was overgrown with vines and plant life and flowers, as well as covered in spider webs. He grinned, seeing what looked like a monitor behind one and wiped it away, "Eugh!" he moved, about to wipe his hand on Brian's clothes, when the Judge grabbed his hand and pulled a small rag from where it was lying on a small desktop near the computer, handing it to him instead, having known he would do something like that.

For having known him centuries and lost that familiarity with him for centuries more…he acted so like their children that it was easy to guess what he would do.

"How many dinosaurs do you think are on here?" Amy asked as the Doctor wiped his hand off and then moved to the monitor to sonic it, bringing it to life.

"Oh, well done, whoever you are," the Doctor grinned, "Judge?" he looked to the side as she stepped beside him, "Help me look for engines?"

She nodded and stepped beside him, "I think the computer already did that," she gestured at the screen where the image had changed to the engine readings.

"Brilliant," he grinned and looked back at the monitor, "Thank you, computer."

The Judge squinted at the image, "It looks like different parts of the ship operate independently," she remarked, "Different engine schemes, see?"

The Doctor nodded, "These look like the primary clusters though," he agreed, Brian stepping up on his other side to try and see what they were looking at, Riddell and Nefertiti not seeming to understand while Amy and Rory didn't appear interested, as though they'd seen this more often than not, "Where are we now, computer? We need to get down to these engines..." he reached out to touch the screen, to point to the main engines…

And the three of them disappeared in a flash of light.

~8~

"…and find out how…" the Doctor finished, blinking and looking around to see that he, the Judge, and Brian were now standing on the middle of what appeared to be a beach, tall rocks behind them, an ocean before them with some sort of birds flying in the overcast sky.

"Please tell me I'm seeing things, Doctor," the Judge murmured.

"Would that I could," the Doctor sighed.

"We're outside," Brian gaped, "We're on a beach."

"Teleport!" the Doctor huffed in realization, "Oh, I hate teleports. Must have activated on my voice."

"Or from touching the screen," the Judge agreed.

"Ah, yes, well, thank you, Arthur C. Clarke!" Brian rounded on them, "Teleport, obviously, I mean, we're on a spaceship, with dinosaurs, why wouldn't there be a teleport? In fact why don't we just teleport now?!"

The Judge blinked as the man turned and stormed off across the beach, "What on earth do you think is wrong with him?" she asked, "Well, besides the obvious."

The Doctor chuckled lightly, knowing that the 'obvious' was being a human unused to this, "I think he's just overwhelmed dear."

"So the usual then?"

"Seems about right."

"What shall we do about it then?"

"You know, I have no idea."

It appeared though that they didn't really have to worry about what to do to calm the man as Brian walked back over to them a moment later, seeming slightly calmer, "Can somebody tell me where we are, now?"

The Doctor stuck out his tongue, tasting the air, "Well, it's not Earth. Doesn't taste right, too metallic."

"Perhaps the teleports were set for internal use only?" the Judge offered, crossing her arms and tugging her blue plaid shirt a little closer as the wind was creating a small chill.

They looked up when they heard a cawing noise above them, "Is that a kestrel?" Brian frowned, trying to see them.

"I do hope so," the Doctor nodded.

The Judge looked around, trying to see if there was something they could use to try and determine if they were still in the ship or not, when she felt something shift beneath her and looked down, "Is it just me or is the sand sort of…humming?"

The Doctor crouched down and touched the sand, "Not just you, no," he smiled up at her, standing and brushing the sand off his hands, "Right, well, now we just need to dig a bit and…"

"And how do you expect us to do that?" the Judge turned to him, "With our bare hands?"

"Well, it's one way."

"Just because something is humming doesn't mean we have to go digging for it."

"But it's _humming_!" he grinned at her, "The beach is humming. It's a humming beach. What if there's someone buried under it that's humming?"

"Then we probably wouldn't hear the humming if it was a person."

"Well we should find out," he smiled.

"I can help," Brian offered, pulling a small collapsible trowel from his pocket.

"You…carry a trowel on you?" the Judge eyed him.

"Of course!" he said as though it was a common practice for humans, "What sort of a man doesn't carry a trowel?"

She blinked and turned to the Doctor, "Doctor?"

The Doctor paused in thought before starting to search his pockets, pulling out rather odd bits and ends and things she could tell by his expression not even HE was sure how it had gotten there, before shaking his head, "Nope, no trowel."

"Put it on your Christmas list," Brian smirked and squatted down, starting to dig, stopping when he came to a bit of metal rather quickly, "There's a floor under this beach!"

"Ah yes," the Doctor smiled, "Metal floor. It was just a short-range teleport. We _are_ still on the ship."

"No. We're outside, on a beach. Don't be ridiculous."

"Well, it is quite ridiculous, also brilliant. That's why the system teleported us here, I wanted the engines," he gestured around, "This is the engine room! Hydro-generators."

Brian stared at him, "I have literally no idea what he's saying."

"The water," the Judge pointed to the waves, "It's what's powering the ship."

"Fabulously impossible!" the Doctor cheered, "Oh, think of the things we could learn from this ship if we manage to stop it being blown to pieces."

"But to stop that, we have to stop the ship," the Judge reminded him, "A system like that," she pointed at the waves again, "It won't be easy to shut down."

"True," the Doctor sighed, "It would take way too long to shut it down from here."

"There has to be a control room though," the Judge turned to him, "If we can find another teleport, we can get it to send us to the control room, must have something there that can shut it down from there."

"Perfect," the Doctor grinned, though his smile fell when the cawing sounded above them again, louder than before, "Now, what do we do about the things that aren't kestrels?" he asked.

"Oh, my Lord," Brian breathed as he looked up at the 'birds' and saw they were not quite birds and rather larger than birds and rather more dangerous than birds, "Are those pterodactyls?!"

"Appears that way," the Judge winced at the thought.

"On any other occasion, I'd be thrilled," the Doctor agreed with her hesitation, "Exposed on a beach, less than thrilled. We should be going," this time it was his turn to grab the Judge's wrist, and Brian's, and turn to rush them along the beach, rushing towards the large rocks, the cliffs, behind them.

"Where?" Brian called.

"Definitely away from them!"

"Can't we teleport again?" Brian started to pant as they raced across the beach.

"We'd need a computer screen and teleport control," the Judge told him.

"There's an opening in the cliffs over there!" the Doctor pointed, the three of them bolting for it.

"You may want to run faster Brian!" the Judge glanced back at him, seeing him lagging behind.

"I'm trying!" he gasped, ducking down as one of the pterodactyls dove for him, stumbling into the cave after the Time Lords, the three of them panting as they tried to regain their breath.

The Judge looked around, before focusing on the Doctor, "Please tell me we'll be heading through the caves and not back out there?" she knew it was on the verge of being a rather stupid question, but with the Doctor, you never knew what he was going to do.

"Sounds like a plan," the Doctor smiled and nodded, turning to pull the sonic out, using it as a torch as they started to make it through the cave only for a thudding noise to sound before them, sounding like someone was heading for them.

"We're trapped!" Brian gasped, glancing back behind them to where he could still make out the beach through the hole they'd run through.

"Yes, thanks for spelling it out," the Doctor muttered.

"See," the Judge nudge him with a small smile, "I'm not the only one gets annoyed with the humans."

"I'm not annoyed with humans."

"Just Riddell then?" she smirked, seeing his lips purse.

"Says the woman annoyed by Nefertiti."

"To counter, I AM annoyed by practically ALL the humans, dear, not just her."

"What?" he frowned at her, "Even Amy?"

"Well…she DID kiss you."

"Yes, but so did others."

"You're not building a good case for me to not be irritated with them Doctor," the Judge cut in, making him wince, "Or shall I just go and find Riddell and allow him a chance to…"

"No!" the Doctor shouted suddenly, "No, no, dear, no need to do that," he offered her a wry smile, "But um, this probably isn't the best time to have this little chat," he glanced over, seeing two large, yellow robots walking towards them, "Shall we wait till after we've saved the dinosaurs?"

The Judge let out a long breath, "We can't just keep waiting to the end of your little trips to have serious talks Doctor,' she warned him, "There are more important things in life than your adventures."

"I know," he took her hands, "I know, and I promise, we'll talk then, ok?" he smiled at her, squeezing her hands as she nodded before letting go just as the robots reached them.

"We're very cross with you!" one said, "You're going straight on the naughty step!"

The second one stepped behind them and nudged them on with an arm that very obviously had a weapon attached to it, forcing them to move and follow the first robot down the tunnels of the cave they'd found themselves in.

"What's the escape plan?" Brian whispered to them.

"Why do we want to escape?" the Doctor smiled at him.

Brian blinked, "They have us hostage!"

"Yes, and wherever they're taking us," the Judge countered, "The chances are that it'll be someone who either knows how to operate this ship, or who knows what happened to the Silurians that were meant to fly it."

The Doctor turned to her, "You recognize the architecture too?" he asked her, a little surprised that she knew it was a Silurian craft. He honestly hadn't realized it till he'd gotten inside it that it was of Silurian make.

She nodded, "After all your stories, you know our son wanted to learn more," she reminded him of one of their other children.

Their youngest son had been completely enraptured by the tales of his father's adventures both from before and after he'd started to travel across the stars. He'd been especially interested in the different species that existed out there beyond Time Lords, had gone on to get an education in it. He had been obsessed with studying species (especially the humans his father went on and on about) and each time the Doctor came back for a visit he'd pile on questions about the species he'd encountered and then go on to study them himself, not just their biology but their culture and architecture, their technology. She had sat through hours and hours of visits from her son about the species he was researching. He was a right little professor in a way, the lectures she'd endured.

"What if they kill us?" Brian frowned.

"They wouldn't do that!" the Doctor tapped one of the robot's on the chest, "You're not going to kill us, are you, Rusty?"

"Who are you calling Rusty?!" the robot hissed.

"Have you seen yourself lately?"

"You try being on this ship for two millennia, see how YOUR paintwork does!"

"Don't listen to him," the other robot cut in, "He's just being mean cos we captured them."

"If they wanted us dead, Brian, they'd have killed us on sight," the Judge turned to him, "They need us for whatever they're taking us to…" she trailed off, seeing him just standing there gaping at something, "What is it?"

Brian just pointed behind them so they turned, the Doctor letting out a loud laugh and beaming at the sight of the triceratops ambling towards them, "Ooh!" he cheered, "Herbivore, Brian, don't panic. Triceratops. Ha! Beautiful."

He tried to lean over and examine it closer, but the Judge tugged him back by the elbow, "Still rather dangerous with the horns, Doctor."

"Shall I shoot it?" one of the robots turned to the other.

"We're not supposed to shoot the creatures, stupid!" the robot countered.

"Stop calling me stupid!"

"Rargh yourself!" the Doctor chuckled as the dinosaur let out a little roar, "Hello, cutie-pie. Who's a lovely Tricey then, eh?" he tried to reach out to pet it but the Judge pulled his hand back, not wanting it near the dinosaur's mouth, "Yes, you are. Yes, you are."

"My god you're just like the other one," the Judge muttered.

The Doctor grinned at that, knowing instantly who she was talking about, their eldest son, was such an animal lover, he was just wonderful with them, no matter how dangerous they were. In fact, he was quite like the Doctor, the more dangerous they were the more he couldn't wait to work with them. But he had such a gentle touch and calm air to him that it wasn't any surprise that the animals were calmer around him. They hadn't had to fear for his safety in that sense, despite his desire to work with the dangerous animals he ALWAYS took precautions and was as careful as he could be…unlike his father.

"What do I do?!" Brain started to panic as the dinosaur moved closer to him, "What do I do?!" he winced as the dinosaur started to sniff him, "What's it doing?!"

"I believe the term is sniffing," the Judge deadpanned, not quite sure why the man was panicking so much. She understood that it was a dinosaur and the horns were dangerous, but it seemed like everyone in the universe knew that this species of dinosaur was a herbivore. And this one seemed rather docile. It wasn't about to attack him or eat him, it really was quite clearly just sniffing him.

"You don't have any vegetable matter in your trousers, do you, Brian?" the Doctor inquired.

"Only my balls," Brian answered.

"Your…what?" the Judge blinked.

"Golf balls," he pulled two from his pocket, "Grassy residue."

"Is it normal for humans to carry golf balls in their pockets?" the Judge turned to the Doctor.

"It is for me," he grinned.

"So no then," the Judge muttered.

"Oi!" the Doctor mock-pouted, only to laugh a moment later when the triceratops stepped closer to Brian and began to lick his face, making him grimace in disgust, "Aw, bless."

"Get it away from me!" he cried.

"Throw one," the Doctor suggested.

"Really?" Brian glanced at him, before facing the dino, "Is this what you want? Is it?" he threw one of the balls away, watching as the dino ran after it, leaving him to breathe a sign of relief.

"And breathe out," the Doctor chuckled, patting Brian on the back, "Right!" he spun to the robots, "Take us to your leader."

"Please tell me you didn't just say that," the Judge looked at him, bemused.

"Too good to resist," he winked at her, clapping his hands and gesturing for the robots to continue on and lead them off.

It wasn't too long before they reached what appeared to be a second ship attached to the Silurian one, a gate up across an opening into it, keeping them out.

"Love what you've done with the place down here," the Doctor called as he leaned in and looked across the darkened room beyond at a figure lying on the bed in the shadows. There were a few monitors around, some equipment, all of it dusty and old.

"Let him in," a croaking voice called from within, "Open the gate."

The Doctor didn't step through even when the gate went up, glancing at the Judge, "Her too," he told the man within, not about to step in without her. He waited till a hand lifted and made a 'get on with it' motion in the air before he took the Judge's hand and stepped in with her, making sure to keep hold of her till they were both in…when the gate closed back up again, separating them from Brian.

"It's fine," the Doctor glanced back at Brian, trying to reassure him. The man frowned and wrapped his hands around the bars of the gate, not liking this but there wasn't much he could do, "Fantasia in F Minor for four hands," the Doctor remarked, turning back to the man in question, walking towards him as the Judge stepped back and began to examine the equipment around them.

"You know it?" the man wheezed.

"Know it? Say hello to hands three and four! Schubert kept tickling me to try and put me off. Franz the Hands. Oh, that takes me back."

"Rather put-together this place," the Judge murmured, eyeing the room distastefully, "Unwed?" she assumed, their home on Gallifrey had never been quite this disused or dusty or unkempt.

The man, an old man, with long straggly greasy hair glared at her before focusing on the Doctor, "It's fate you came."

"Is it?" he wondered, frowning slightly at how he was ignoring the Judge, "I'm the Doctor and this is my wife, the Judge."

"Yes, I know," the man gestured to a screen, showing an image of the beach, the Doctor nodding as he realized the man had been watching them, "I'm Solomon."

"What is that?" the Judge stepped closer when a blue light flashed and scanned the Doctor.

"System malfunction, ignore it."

"Hardly, the truth please?" the Judge crossed her arms, giving Solomon a look of a displeased mother waiting for her child to stop lying.

"I don't have to tell you anything," he sneered at her.

"And we don't have to help you," the Judge countered, knowing that there was likely only one reason why someone watching them would want a 'doctor' there.

"How about you answer what happened to you?" the Doctor offered, not really caring what the blue light had been.

"I was attacked," Solomon huffed, "Three raptors. They cornered me. The robots rescued me, but it was nearly too late."

"Ah, yes. The robots. They're...unusual."

"I got them cheap, from a concession on Illyria Seven. The robots did as best they could with my legs, but...you can help me so much more."

"Oh, a 'doctor' Doctor!" the Doctor nodded, "I see," he glanced at the Judge.

"You're spending too much time with the humans if you've only just caught onto that now, dear," the Judge told him dryly.

He pointed at her like he was about to say something, before he just turned to Solomon, "Let's have a look," he lifted a cloth that was lying across the man's legs.

"They chewed through part of the bone in my legs."

"Yes, very nasty," he grimaced, the Judge turning away from the sight of it.

"But you can repair them."

"If you tell me how you came by so many dinosaurs."

Solomon gave him a hard look before his eyes flickered to the gate, "Injure the older one!" he ordered and one of the robots turned their weapon on Brian.

A/N: Sorry there wasn't a chapter yesterday and that this one was so late :( I was meant to be home earlier yesterday from work when a coworker who hadn't been feeling well the day before called out ill and I had to work a double. And today I think I caught whatever she might have had lol, I was just miserable all morning before I started feeling better and I just really wanted to at least get a chapter up instead of let it go another 2 days :( Tomorrow's chapter might be a little late but hopefully not THIS late ;)

For this chapter though, little bit of Doctor/Judge interaction and some more info on their children ;) I really can't wait for the rest of this story, I'm so excited ^-^ I hope you like the twist of the Judge getting stuck with not just the Doctor but the 1 human that's probably least equiped to go on that adventure lol :)

Some notes on reviews...

We'll definitely get more references to their lives before the war yup ;) The Judge sort of worked out that Oswin was a Dalek, but it'll come out more in the Snowmen when they see Clara Oswin Oswald ;)

Clara might be tricky at first, because her smarts with computers comes from the download she went through, but she'll have a better respect for them, in the end I think :) Oh they'll be going along and getting to know each other again, no more skipping episodes from here on out ;) They'll still be looking for Clara though, mostly because they're both parents and the thought of a 26 year old girl being killed twice, they'll want to find her and protect her :) I can say you're close about why he picks that time period for the Snowmen in terms of Vastra and Strax ;) Oh the Judge is very sad she never got to meet Sexy/Idris too :(

It'll have a little bit of conflict later on, less so with Clara because she does what she's told to do unlike other humans and their 'wandering off' lol :) But yup, TL6 will be 'mad,' not insane in the sense that she's completely delusional/talking to inanimate objects/not entirely with it/etc, but she'll be one of the ones that 'went mad' at the Untempered Schism ;) She'll have a rather...interesting personality and relationship with the Doctor and Master because of that :)

Lol, that's awesome you met some Ponds :) One of my classmates in college had the last name of 'Song' :)


	5. Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - Part 2

Dinosaurs on a Spaceship - Part 2

"No!" the Judge shouted, jumping to the side as though trying to block his view of Brian, "Don't!" just because she wasn't a fan of humans didn't mean she wanted to see them harmed.

"Stop," Solomon ordered his robots, a smirk on his face as he saw the desperation and alarm and fear in the Judge's eyes, reflected in the Doctor's and knew that they would tell him what he wanted to know now, "Answer the question, Doctor," he turned his gaze to the Doctor.

"I don't respond well to violence, Solomon," the Doctor frowned.

"And I don't like questions, Doctor," he countered, "You boarded without my permission. Now, fix me or the next bolt will hit its target."

The Doctor and Judge exchanged a look at that before the Doctor sighed and moved to gather some surgical tools, the Judge helping by bringing a small tray over for him to rest them on.

"How did you get onboard?" Solomon asked them.

"Oh, I never talk about myself with a gun pointed at me," the Doctor murmured.

"You never talk about yourself period," the Judge remarked.

He glanced at her, a soft look in his eyes, "You know why I didn't."

She let out a soft breath and nodded, he'd explained it to her, after the first phone call about how one of his 'friends' tried to kiss him or something like that, some Astrid woman. Granted there had been many times where he kissed other women (she couldn't fault him for a Nurse Redfern as he'd thought himself human at the time, and a widower on top of that, travelling with his niece and her maid) but he always had a reasonable excuse for that. It was when Astrid kissed him that he had explained he hadn't told the woman he was married, he hadn't told anyone really, though the companions did seem to find out eventually, whether from a mention by him or a warning from Rose, but they knew. It was everyone else he didn't tell.

He didn't say anything about himself because then it gave them ammunition against him, it gave his enemies ways to hurt him. As it was, all his enemies knew that the TARDIS and his companions were the closest ones to him, though it appeared they likely knew about HER now too. But everything else? He did his best not to mention a thing about his life on Gallifrey, about her, about their children, about his family, nothing about his fears or nightmares, not wanting to give them any sort of weapon against him, something they could use to hurt him or attack him, to weaken him. Ever since he learned she was alive, she had been lumped up within that as well, she was truly the last living thing of Gallifrey that he had, not counting the TARDIS, but she could interact and touch him and talk to him. She was the last one that understood the laws he lived by, the burden of the war, the loss of family. He did the only thing he could do to keep her safe, and that meant not letting anyone know who she was or where or even that she was alive. She understood, she did, but right now she was there, but he was on a mission to make sure NO ONE knew about either of them as a result.

"Why don't you tell us how YOU got onboard," the Judge glanced at Solomon, "Your craft doesn't match the architecture of the ship."

"Very observant," Solomon shifted as the Doctor began to work on his legs.

"Very obvious," she countered, "I assure you we probably already know or can guess what you're doing here. But it would be easier to just tell us."

"I'm transporting it to the Roxborne Peninsula," Solomon offered.

"The commerce colony," the Doctor mused, "You're a trader."

"I…search out opportunities for profit across the nine galaxies."

"Ah, the purple light," the Doctor nodded, glancing at that blueish light that had scanned him before, "That's what it was. An IV system, identify and value, the database of everything across space and time, allocated a market value. Argos for the universe."

"But those things are rubbish though," the Judge frowned, "Outdated by at least a few centuries for this date," she glanced at Solomon, a small smirk on her face, "Seems business isn't doing quite so well if you're stuck with such an artifact."

"Still, they do still work," the Doctor shrugged, "You were trying to find out how much I'm worth."

"Would you like to know?" Solomon glanced over at the computer screen, the Time Lords doing the same only to see 'No Identification Found' flashing across it, "You don't exist. I doubt your pretty wife does either," he chuckled at the Doctor's hands clenching on the tools in his hand at his remark, "It's never done that."

"That's me," the Doctor smiled sadly, "Worthless," he looked up when he felt the Judge put a hand on his arm and give it a gentle squeeze. He looked over at her, smiling when he saw her shaking her head slightly, disagreeing with his statement.

That meant…more to him than he realized, to know that SHE didn't think that. There had been points, it seemed, with each companion, that felt like they saw him as worthless. When Rose's father was unable to be saved, when the Master took Martha's family, when the Earth had been stolen, when Rory had died in the dream world, it just felt like each and every person who was with him for longer than a trip or two came to see him as worthless at one point or another. He knew that his wife, of all people, had more right than anyone in the Universe to feel that way too, what with Gallifrey and how he'd failed to help protect their children, how he'd left to spend centuries among the stars, how he had let her regenerate more than half a dozen times since he'd first seen her again and so many other moments. She SHOULD think he was worthless…

But to know she didn't? It felt like a weight had been lifted off of him for that, like he could breathe easier because she thought he was worth something and she still didn't like him putting himself down. One small part of rushing out to the stars had been to do just that, to prove himself, to prove he was worth something. He might just be a common Time Lord on Gallifrey, perhaps a bit more noteworthy for coming from one of the older families, but out there in the Universe? He could make a difference, he could help people, he could prove himself worthy of being a Time Lord. He always felt like their people were meant to help not just to watch and, while he was quite sure that the Time Lords had the right idea given how much he'd made things worse at times, he still wanted to try. He wanted to make a name for himself, to be able to give his children something to be proud of in him. To know that his wife saw that, that she didn't hate him for leaving despite the fact SHE had had to give him her blessing in order to leave, it meant the world to him.

"The dinosaurs are worth more than all of us combined," the Judge offered, not playing down his worth or anyone else's but generalizing, "Especially since they're extinct," she spoke a little louder as the device in the Doctor's hand whirred, making Solomon groan.

"Done, sit up," the Doctor announced, "Very slowly," he reached out to help Solomon sit up as the Judge turned and put the tray to the side, eyeing Solomon warily.

The Judge glanced at the Doctor before he nodded slightly, both of them were aware that this was a Silurian craft, they'd passed countless stasis pods on the way there with the robots, but ALL of them were empty. And now that they knew Solomon was a trader, that he'd latched onto this ship? They could guess what had happened. The stasis pods should have had Silurians in them, the man had robots with weapons, he was a corrupt trader (as evidenced by him being willing to shoot Brian to get what he wanted). They KNEW what had happened to the original owners of the ship.

"The pain in my legs," Solomon gasped as he stood, using his canes for help, "It's gone. I can move them. Thank you, Doctor."

"What did you do to the Silurians?" the Doctor demanded.

Solomon smirked, not seeing any point in keeping it from them now that he could stand, now that he'd gotten what he wanted from the Doctor, "We ejected them. The robots woke them from cryo-sleep a handful at a time, and jettisoned them from the airlocks. We must have left a trail of dust and bone."

The Doctor closed his eyes and shook his head as the Judge just stared at the man, horrified, "Because you wanted the dinosaurs," the Doctor breathed as he sat down on a stool dejectedly.

"Their ship crossed my path," Solomon shrugged, "I sent out a distress signal. They let me board. But when I saw the cargo, things became more complex."

"Piracy and then genocide."

"Very emotive words, Doctor."

"My husband is an emotive man," the Judge defended, putting a hand on the Doctor's shoulder, squeezing it to offer him strength. She knew he didn't sometimes appear that way, but he always was, always had been. If you knew where to look, how to read him.

The Doctor gave her a smile, his hearts leaping at how she'd called him her husband, it didn't happen often, but when it did it made him want to smile no matter the situation. He reached up and put a hand on hers, patting it a moment before resting his on hers and squeezing it, letting it go a moment later.

"The lizards wouldn't negotiate," Solomon nearly spat, "I made them a generous offer."

"I doubt that."

"The creatures onboard this ship are not objects to be sold or traded," the Doctor agreed.

"I feel like you're judging me," Solomon eyed them.

"What was your first clue?" the Judge shook her head.

"You said Roxborne Peninsula," the Doctor stood, "So why are you heading to Earth? You're on the wrong course," he watched as Solomon glared at him, and it hit him, "Oh. You don't know how. Ha!" he looked at the Judge, "Brilliant. He couldn't change the pre-programmed course!" and turned back to Solomon, "Without instructions, the ship defaulted, returned home. Oh, dear. The Silurians outwitted you, even after you'd massacred them. So now you're a prisoner on the ship that you hijacked."

"Not now you're here," Solomon told them, "You're going to help me to where I want to go."

"What makes you think WE would ever help YOU?" the Judge scoffed, the Doctor nodding beside her.

"Little bit of news, Solomon," the Doctor added, "You're being targeted by missiles. Get off this ship while you still can," before he turned and walked away, taking the Judge's hand as they left.

"You think I believe that?" Solomon shouted after them, "You just want them for yourself. You won't profit from me, Doctor."

The Judge squeezed the Doctor's hand as they reached the gate, the Doctor turning to glare at him, "Don't ever judge me by your standards," he warned the man, pulling the sonic out and flashing the gate with it, opening it to step outside. He glanced at the Judge who stepped away and moved to take Brian's arm, getting him ready to run as he turned to the robots, "Hey, he wants to see you," he told them, before hurrying past the robots, the Judge pulling Brian with them.

"Brian a little faster please," the Judge murmured as she tugged Brian along into a run down the hall, the three of them rushing around a corner and nearly crashing into the Doctor when he stopped short at the sight of the Triceratops before them, "Doctor!" she shouted as he took off towards the dinosaur.

"What're we doing?!" Brian looked between them, not understanding what was going on. One second he'd been trying to remove a grease stain that was bothering him on one of the robot's arms and now he was staring at a dinosaur again.

"Just do exactly as I do!" the Doctor cried.

"That never works well!" the Judge huffed as he took a running jump for a stack of crates and jumped onto the dinosaur's back with a cry of 'Geronimo!'

The Doctor turned and waved his hand for them to join him, the Judge shaking her head as she pushed Brian on, helping him up onto the dinosaur, knowing he'd need more help than her to get onto the dino. The Doctor pouted though when Brian ended up behind him instead of the judge, but he couldn't think of that now, right now it would only be a matter of time before the robots realized he'd tricked them to buy them the time to escape and come after them.

"Go, Tricey!" he urged the dinosaur on, "Run like the wind!" but Tricey only let out a little roar and stayed where it was, not even moving when laser bolts flew past them as the robots rounded the corner, "How do you start a triceratops?!" he turned, looking over his shoulder at the Judge.

"How am I supposed to know?" she shook her head, "I've only ever seen a dinosaur once, during school," it was a common trip for the young Time Lord children in the academy, to journey to Earth in the time of the dinosaurs and overlook them a moment, "Unless you count when Jack made me watch the Jurassic Park movies…"

"Ooh, the 4th one is the best," the Doctor smiled at it.

"What, you saw it?!" she gaped at him, Jack had been tempted to use his Vortex Manipulator to go see the next in the series, but had been convinced by Ianto that the point of it all was to wait for it and build anticipation.

"Oh yeah," he nodded, "Why you want to go see it?"

"Yes."

"It's a date then," he smiled, before blinking at what he'd said, "I mean, not that it's…I just meant…"

"Can we do this later?!" Brian cut in, before pulling out a golf ball and tossing it ahead of him, "Tricey, fetch!"

The three of them jolted when the triceratops began to chase after the ball, the Doctor whooping and cheering and urging it on faster all the way as it ran around the corner before them.

"I'm riding a dinosaur!" Brian laughed, "On a spaceship!"

"Come on, Tricey!" the Doctor grinned, only to see, as they ran around another corner, that there was an end to the corridor before them and that Tricey wasn't stopping, "Where are the brakes?!"

"It's a dinosaur not a car!" the Judge shouted moments before they were all thrown off the creature as it came to a stop, seeing the golf ball lying on the ground just a few feet away. They rolled onto the ground in a heap, luckily none of them worse for the wear than a few bumps and bruises…only for the dinosaur to plop before them and drop the golf ball before Brian. They looked at each other as they slowly stood.

"Judge!" the Doctor rushed to her, helping her up, checking her over quickly to make sure she wasn't hurt, "Good," he breathed, hugging her quickly before stepping away, grinning, "That worked! Ok..." he looked around, "Where are we now?"

"There's a screen," the Judge pointed, catching sight of one in the wall and hurrying over, "It's earth," she looked at the Doctor, "Incoming message."

"That must be why they got no response," the Doctor murmured, joining her, "They were sending out the message but there was no one here to answer," he reached out and flicked a switch, Indira appearing, "Hello, Earth! How are things?"

"Doctor," Indira began solemnly, "The ship's coming through the atmosphere. I have to start the missile program."

"No," he shook his head, "No, no, no, don't do that, everything's under control here, turning round any moment. Need a bit of wriggle room on the timings..."

"I can't do that."

"You can, of course you can," he tried to urge her, "Tiny bit more time, Indira, please. This ship contains the most precious cargo..."

"But she has protocols to follow," the Judge sighed, understanding, "It's the procedures that were put in place, likely by a similar prior event," she looked at the Doctor, "We can't ask her to ignore something like that Doctor. This is her JOB, this is what she must do."

"My only responsibility is the Earth's safety," Indira nodded, "I'm launching the missiles. Goodbye, Doctor."

The Doctor let out a sad breath as the contact disconnected and looked at the Judge, "Why would you…"

"That is what the EARTH has to do," the Judge reasoned, "It would be like asking our soldiers NOT to fire at anything that made it through the sky trenches giving off a non-Gallifreyan reading. It could be something else, but it could have been Dalek, it MUST be fired upon and they were for OUR safety.

"This is…bad. Bad, bad, bad."

"I agree, but just because that is what EARTH must do," she continued, "Doesn't mean there isn't something WE can do from here to help stop it."

"Like what?"

"Turn the ship around?" she offered.

"And then what?" he scoffed lightly, "The missiles would still be coming."

"Well it must have some sort of weapons system," she reasoned, "Even the TARDISes had weapons during the war."

"But those were the ones adapted to battle, the WAR TARDISes," he argued.

"It must have some sort of defense system though," she kept on, "Didn't you tell me that the Silurians that took Amy did it because their defense system was awakened by the drill? Same species, it might have the same precautions."

"True…" he murmured, turning to the computer, "Computer, show us weapons and defense systems," he sighed when 'No Systems Available' came up instead, "Should have known that," he murmured, "The defense system for the others were individual soldiers with weapons, not their entire compound. The ancient species, still full of hope."

"We still have the controls though," the Judge tried to help, "If we can get control of the ship, we might be able to get it in reverse before the missiles are launched, or help pilot it away from them, avoid them if they are launched.

"I don't think we can maneuver the ship that quickly," he shook his head.

"Then…we…materialize the TARDIS around the dinosaurs and get them out instead of the ship."

"We won't have time," he argued.

"Then YOU come up with something," the Judge huffed at all her ideas being shot down, "You're the bloody Doctor," she muttered.

"I don't know," he sighed, shaking his head, nearly defeated, "I don't know."

A flash of light had them turning around to see Solomon standing there behind them with the two robots on either side of him, "You were telling the truth, Doctor. Earth has launched missiles. This vessel is too clumsy to outrun them, but I have my own ship."

"You won't get your precious cargo onboard, though," he argued, "It'll just be you and your metal tantrum machines."

"We do not have tantrums!" one of the robots huffed.

"Shut up!" Solomon snapped at the yellow metal creation, "You're right, Doctor," Solomon struggled to make his way towards the Doctor with his cane, "I can't keep the dinosaurs and live myself. But I had the IV system scan the entire ship and it found something even more valuable. Utterly unique. I don't know where you found it or how you got it here, but I want it."

The Doctor tensed at that but the Judge caught how his gaze flickered to her, not in a manner that denoted he was sharing concern with her over what that might be…but in a way that made her feel like he was worried that this 'utterly unique, valuable' thing…was HER. She felt her hearts skip a beat at that thought, at that look, that he still valued her even though she wasn't quite his 'wife' at the moment. She always would be, but they weren't exactly acting on it at the moment, trying to build up the foundation of a relationship before truly settling for those titles again.

"I don't know what you're talking about," the Doctor returned his attention back to Solomon.

"Earth Queen Nefertiti of Egypt," he stated, the Doctor letting out only the smallest of breaths at that, "A face stamped across history. Give her to me and I'll let the rest of you live."

"Not a chance," the Judge shook her head, standing beside the Doctor, even though she wasn't fond of the woman, she wouldn't subject her to being in a man like Solomon's clutches, just like she knew the Doctor wouldn't let Riddell be eaten by a dinosaur despite his dislike of the man.

"You think I won't punish those who get in my way?" Solomon glared, "Whatever their worth?" he threw his arm out at the triceratops and, before they could even move, one of the robots fired at the dinosaur, making it cry out in pain as it was shot.

The Doctor quickly made his way to the dinosaurs side, crouching down and stroking its snout as it died, the Judge remaining standing as she glared at Solomon, "You're a monster," she hissed at the man.

"You must be very proud," the Doctor murmured as he slowly stood, the triceratops' eyes drifting shut as it stopped moving.

Solomon seemed to smirk at that, pleased by their words, "Bring her to me. Or the robots will make their way through your corpses. Bring her now."

"No," the Doctor agreed, making his way back to the Judge's side…only for another flash of light to strike up and Amy, Nefertiti, Riddell, and Rory to appear within it, "What are you doing?!"

"I demanded to be brought here," Nefertiti stated as she strode forward, Brian hurrying to his son and giving him a large hug as she passed.

"No," the Doctor lightly grabbed Nefertiti's arm to stop her, "No, no, no, no way."

"It isn't your choice, Doctor. It's mine."

"Nefertiti," the Judge stepped closer, "You go with him, we can't promise we'll be able to get you back."

"You saved my people," Nefertiti stated, "I am in your debt."

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "No debts, you don't owe us anything."

"Then I do it of my own will."

"You don't understand," the Judge tried to explain, "You do this and we fail to rescue you, we alter the entire course of human events," she stressed, "You aren't meant to die yet. There is still much more you need to do in Egypt. We cannot risk that happening."

"Then you shall have to endeavor persistently to take me back," Nefertiti smiled and, for once, it was not more focused on the Doctor than her.

"Are humans always this stubborn?" the Judge turned to the Doctor as Nefertiti started to walk towards Solomon again.

"They seem to be," he murmured.

"No!" Riddell shouted, cocking his rifle and aiming at Solomon just as Nefertiti reached him, "Take her, I shoot you."

"Put your weapon down!" Nefertiti ordered, "Let me make my choice."

"Do it, boy," Solomon sneered as one of the robots raised its arm in threat, forcing Riddell to lower it, "My bounty increases. And what an extraordinary bounty you are," he lifted a hand to trail it along Nefertiti's cheek.

But she shoved it away, "Never touch me," she hissed at him.

Solomon reacted quickly, bringing up one of his canes, pressed firmly on one edge, sharp like a blade, and pressed it against her throat, backing her into a wall, "I like my possessions to have spirit. It means I can have fun breaking them," he grinned at her even as she shoved the cane away, "And I will break you in, with immense pleasure. Thank you, Doctor. Computer? Take us back to my ship."

The moment the two humans and two robots disappeared in a flash of light, alarms began to go off, "Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress. Hostile targeting in progress."

"Bingo," the Doctor murmured, an idea hitting him.

"What is it?" Rory looked at him, "Doctor?"

~8~

The small group of humans and Time Lords appeared in the middle of a room, via teleport, to see two chairs with cobwebs on them sitting before them, facing each other, with a post in the middle of the room. It appeared to be just where the Doctor intended them to go, however, as he grinned and clapped his hands, "Ok, Control Deck," he beamed, rushing to the post and starting to peer inside it while the Judge moved over to the cobwebs on the chairs and started to pull them off, silently thanking the stars that this wasn't the TARDIS, if it ever ended up this dusty, she would have a fit about it, she'd always been rather clean and this was horrendously disused.

"So, what's the plan?" Rory asked.

"Come on," the Doctor glanced at the humans, "The missiles are locked on to us, we can't outrun them, we have to save the dinosaurs and get Nefertiti back from Solomon. Isn't it obvious?!"

"It's sort of the opposite of obvious."

"We have to get the ship away from the Earth," the Judge called, moving on to the second chair, "And we have 17 minutes to do it."

"You said it was too late, there wasn't any time," Brian frowned at the Time Lords.

"Ah, yes, but I didn't have this plan then, did I?" the Doctor countered, "Riddell? Keep an eye out for dinosaurs."

Riddell grinned, "I was rather hoping you'd say that," he moved over to the side door and glanced out it, watching for the dinosaurs.

"If you even think about trying to kill one of them…" the Judge warned but Riddell just winked at her, reassuring her.

"Rory, Brian," the Doctor looked over, "Help the Judge get rid of the cobwebs," he spun around from the post and move to one of the computers in the room, eyeing it quickly for the piloting scheme of the ship, "No, don't be like that! Really unhelpful."

"What's the matter?" Amy frowned.

"Parallel pilot compartments," he turned, leaning against the computer, looking more to the Judge as a source of understanding than the humans, "Bio-configured, needs two operators of the same gene chain. That's why Solomon couldn't change the ship's course and neither can we."

"And that means…"

"It means there has to be two pilots that share DNA," the Judge called, "Silurians class their families by gene-chain instead of lineage…Brian?" she glanced over as the man raised his hand as though waiting to be picked on in a classroom.

"Me and Rory," he lowered his hand, "We're father and son, that's the same gene thingy thing right?"

"Brian Pond, you are delicious!" the Doctor beamed at him.

"I'm not a Pond," Brian reminded him.

"Course you are," the Doctor countered.

"Another time Doctor," the Judge moved over to Brian and led him to one of the seats, "Just sit here Brian, Rory you too, over there," she nodded to the second seat as Rory sat.

"Ship does all the engineering," the Doctor told them, "The controls are straightforward, even a monkey could use them," he gestured at the two men, "Oh, look, they're going to. Guys, come on, comedy gold. Where's a Silurian audience when you need one?"

"Then you fully accept that you're a monkey's uncle?" the Judge gave him a look.

He frowned at that, staring at her in confusion, "What?"

"I ran into a lovely girl just before I regenerated into my last body," she told him, moving to the controls to start up the chairs, "Blonde hair, blue eyes, reminded me of you," she glanced at him, "Said her name was Jenny…"

The Doctor gaped at her, "J…Jenny?"

"Had a shuttle that originated from Messaline," she agreed, looking at him with a soft smile, "Had a very interesting story about how she shared so many Gallifreyan traits," she added, "Something about a cloning machine and a certain Time Lord who kept denying she was his daughter…"

"She…she's alive?" he stared at her.

She gave him a small smile, her eyes widening just slightly as though she hadn't been aware that he'd thought Jenny dead, and nodded, "She is, she's…she's actually why I felt alright leaving Jack," she added, "She's staying with him…"

"She's WHAT!?" he gaped.

The Judge laughed, "Getting to know her uncle," she added, "She um…may have unofficially adopted me as her mother," her gaze flickered away from him and he could see her rubbing the sides of her legs in nerves, "Hope that's alright…"

"Perfect," he cut in, a smile starting to form on his face, "That's…wonderful," he grinned, "Truly, it is."

The Judge gave him a small nod, "I can contact her and Jack after we deal with this, if you'd like."

"I'd love that," he swallowed, keeping the tears from falling at the idea that his 'daughter' was alive. He was slightly hurt that she hadn't come to see him, to find him, but she was alive and that was ALL that mattered to him right now, "Anyway," he cleared his throat, seeing Amy giving him a sad smile, an understanding smile, he'd told her about Jenny after Berlin, trying to explain to her that he understood what it was like to have a child fullgrown in the blink of an eye and lose them so soon afterwards, she knew all about that whole mess, "Two eye-line screens," he forced himself to look back at the chairs, "Velocity and trajectory. Steer away from Earth, try not to bump into the moon otherwise the races who live there will be livid."

"What?" Brian blinked at that.

"You just learned that a group of reptiles built an ark to fly dinosaurs about and you're shocked there are moonites?" the Judge gave Brian a look, making him blush.

The Doctor gave a small chuckle at that, "Primary controls in the arms of the chairs, principle's the same as any vehicle. Eight minutes, 45 seconds," he glanced at his watch before he pulled the sonic out, doubling the power of the chairs, "Get us as far away as you can," before he headed back to the post, "Right, phase two sorted. Now for phase one."

"Phase two comes after phase one," Amy remarked, joining him as the Judge was as well.

"Linear human thinking," the Judge murmured, shaking her head at Amy, "Best to think of time as just a," she grinned at the Doctor, "Big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff eh?" it was completely impractical to think of it like that and quite an insult to time itself, but she could tell the Doctor was getting nervous now, for all his faith in humans, expecting to rather timid humans to pilot an alien craft was a lot to ask, she just wanted to cheer him up some.

"You heard that one?" he grinned bashfully at that.

"UNIT seized a series of 17 DVDs from a lovely woman named Sally Sparrow," she smiled, "Martha sent them to Jack for a laugh to try and work out what the conversation was."

The Doctor chuckled and looked back at the post, "Shine a torch in here?"

Amy moved over and did so, "What're you doing?"

"Mixing my messages," he leaned in, starting to pull some wires out of the post, "How's the job?"

"We're about to be hit by missiles and you're asking me that?"

"Weren't you the one that said he likes to ask personal questions in the middle of deadly situations?" the Judge countered, "Are you really surprised by this?"

"No," Amy sighed, "I gave it up."

"You gave the last one up," the Doctor noted.

"Yeah, well I can't settle. Every minute, I'm listening out for that stupid TARDIS sound."

"Right, so it's my fault now, is it?!"

"I can't not wait for you. Even now. And they're getting longer, the gaps between your visits."

"Are they?" he half leaned into the post to reach down further.

"I think you're weaning us off you."

"I'm not, I promise."

"He is," the Judge countered, "Or he's trying to. He's experimenting at the moment."

"Experimenting?" Amy frowned, looking at the Judge.

"He's fond of just leaving his companions on Earth after travelling with him," she shrugged, "It's sort of a tossup for whether it's easier or harder for the companions to do that. Seems he's trying to work out of toning down trips and making them sparse is better."

"You and Rory, you have lives," the Doctor agreed with a sigh, "Each other. I thought that's what we agreed."

"I know," Amy nodded, recalling the conversation that they'd had during the Christmas that he'd revealed he was 'alive,' they'd agreed that she and Rory wanted to try and start a life on Earth, but that they didn't want him to be a stranger, "I just worry there'll come a time when you never turn up, that something will have happened to you and I'll still be waiting, never knowing."

"Oh you'd know," the Judge murmured.

"But nothing will happen," the Doctor tried to reassure Amy, "Come on, Pond," he patted the top of her head, "You'll be there till the end of me."

"Or vice versa," Amy murmured.

The Doctor tried not to look at her for that one, knowing it was very true, so he focused on the sonic as it beeped, "Done," he stood, pulling some wires from the inside of the post.

"Doctor?" Riddell called, stepping back into the room, "This is a two-man job…" he trailed off as Amy picked up one of the rifles off to the side, "What're you doing?"

"I'm easily worth two men," Amy stated, heading for the door, "You can help too, if you like."

The Doctor looked back at the mess of wires, seeing a large crystal sitting on the top of the wires. He grinned, glancing at the Judge and handing it to her as he mentally prepped himself, rubbing his hands together and clapping, pulling the sonic out to flash it at the crystal, sending the two of them disappearing in a teleport's flash.

~8~

The Time Lords took only a moment to gather their bearings when they appeared in the side of Solomon's ship, the two robots before them, Solomon in the middle of the ship but to the side, at the controls, fussing over them while Nefertiti sat on a chair, as queenly as ever.

"Hello!" the Doctor cheered, "Having trouble leaving?" he stepped towards the robots as they turned, grabbing two live wires and pressing them to the robots, short circuiting them and dropping them to the ground.

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer..." one of the robots sang as he powered down.

"I'm going to guess that you've just realized your ship is still magnetized to the Silurian craft," the Judge remarked as Solomon straightened and turned to them.

"Release my ship," the man spat, lifting one of his bladed canes and pointing it at Nefertiti's neck, "Or I kill this precious little object."

The Time Lords winced, knowing that was not at all the best thing for Solomon to say as Nefertiti suddenly kicked his other cane out from under him, sending the man falling to the floor as she yanked his first cane out of his hand and pointed the end to his neck, "I am not your possession now, nor will I ever be. Now stay there."

"Don't mess with Egyptian queens, Solomon," the Doctor warned, "Or Time Ladies, learned that the hard way," he chuckled, heading over to the controls, examining them a moment before flicking them.

"What're you doing?!"

"Well we have to disable the ship's signal and replace it with the Silurian's in order to save the Dinosaurs," the Judge shrugged, moving over to Nefertiti to help move the woman back, away from Solomon.

"The missiles will follow," the Doctor agreed, turning to face Solomon, "Hopefully Silurian ship safe, dinosaurs safe, everybody safe."

"Except for you, Solomon," the Judge remarked. She knew that it was a tricky situation, that quite a few people would find fault in the Doctor's actions, but by Silurian law, the execution of their people could be seen as cause for the execution of the attacker. It was hazy when it was one Silurian, it could be an accident, but to commit genocide to this degree, it was done with foul intent and this was murder. By Silurian law, Solomon would have to pay with his life, they were merely seeing out the last justice for the Silurians.

"Bit tight for time though," the Doctor snapped his finger and pointed at the Judge, "Shouldn't really be chatting. Neffy, Judge, let's go," he clapped his hands and turned to head off, his hand coming to the back of the Judge's back to guide her out, only to pause and turn to Solomon, "How remiss of me, almost forgot the thing about missiles, very literal, this is what they latch on to," he turned to the Judge and she handed him the crystal, "Now," he soniced it and placed it before him, "One more press on this and the ship's demagnetized."

"Doctor, whatever you want, I can get it for you, whatever object you desire," Solomon wheezed as he pulled himself up.

"Did the Silurians beg you to stop?" he wondered, glancing around at the monitors, spotting the missiles heading for them, "Look, Solomon. The missiles. See them shine. See how valuable they are. And they're all yours," he turned, stepping into the small niche with Nefertiti and the Judge, turning to face Solomon.

"You wouldn't leave me…" Solomon glared.

"You should never commit a crime, Solomon," the Judge began, "Unless you are prepared to deal with the consequences."

"Enjoy your bounty," the Doctor held up the sonic and flicked it on, the three of them disappearing just as the missiles hit Solomon's ship.

~8~

The Doctor was practically skipping as he walked through the corridors of the Silurian craft, in the lead of the Ponds and the Judge, heading towards the TARDIS, "So, dinosaur drop-off time," he cheered as he opened the doors.

"Actually, we think home for us," Rory called as the Doctor stopped his motions.

"Oh," he murmured, "Fine. Of course."

"Not forever," Amy added as Riddell and Nefertiti joined them, "Just a couple of months."

"Right, yes, I'm pretty busy anyway. I mean, Judge and I've got to drop everyone back…"

"And we need to have that talk," Judge gave him a pointed look, glancing at Riddell and Nefertiti and back to him.

"Yes," he nodded, smiling, "Talk time."

"Um, before we go," Brian stepped forward, "Can I ask a favor? There's something I want to see."

"What is it?" the Judge asked, before the Doctor could automatically say yes.

Brian just smiled.

~8~

It had been rather simple of a request from Brian, to just look at the Earth for a moment, to just sit there in the doorway of the TARDIS and look at the Earth below. That had been something they could do easily for the man before they dropped the Ponds off in their home, and Riddell and Nefertiti back in the African Plains, and got the dinosaurs to a nice little uninhabited planet that was rather prehistoric in climate and vegetation, putting up a tiny sign that it would be Siluria, Mark 2. Now though, they were in the console room, sitting in the doorway, much like Brian had been, looking down at the Earth as well.

"I'm sorry I wanted to bring Riddell with us," the Judge began with a soft sigh, "I don't know why I did it. I shouldn't have."

"I understand," the Doctor countered, glancing down at their hands as they were braced on the edge of the doors between them, not touching but close.

"I wish I did," she murmured, "I just…I saw Nefertiti and how she was around you and I KNOW I have no right to be…to be…"

"Jealous?" he smiled softly.

"Yeah, that little monster," she gave him a small smile in return, "I don't have a right to feel that and…"

"You do," he cut in, placing his hand over hers, "You're my wife, Carah, you, of all people, have every right to feel that way when another woman acts like Nefertiti did."

"Just like you had every right to be cross with Riddell for all his flirting," she added.

"Yes, well," he flushed at that and looked back at the Earth, "I just…" he took a breath, "I was jealous too."

The Judge laughed at that, shaking her head, "What are we doing Theta? Being jealous of these humans that linger around us," she let out a long breath, "There is no one out there for me but you," she admitted, "We have a history, we had a family, we share the same profound losses."

It was true, it was all true, they just had to find that connection again, that familiarity once more, but they knew that it would only be each other for them. They were married, in the end, they always would be, nothing they were doing would point to them not being each other's husband or wife once more, in the sense where they were both comfortable and feeling that title. They were doing what they were to GET to that place once more, they were trying to be friends but they DID have this history and this sense about each other, they were jealous of others acting too familiar with the other. Half because they WERE husband and wife still, but it was also half to do with the fact that THEY wanted to be able to feel that familiarity and closeness again and seeing other people acting like that was just too much at times.

"Acting rather foolish," the Doctor chuckled, "I should have done more to dissuade Nefertiti away from me, made it clear to her that you were my wife, but my ONLY wife. I knew she was getting to you," his thumb started to stroke her hand, "But I was more amused by it than I should have been. I should have made sure you were comfortable and not jealous."

"I wasn't exactly a saint either," she countered, "I knew that Riddell irritated you when we were around him last, I shouldn't have thought to bring him along just to get you back."

"How about, from now on, we just…make it clear to other people, when we think they're getting too close, that WE are each others," he offered.

"How?" she tilted her head, amused.

"Well," he started to blush and a faint image of one of the famed 'Hollywood Kisses' flashed in their heads, tipping her to the side and planting a rather large, rather deep kiss on her, "I'm sure we'll think of something."

The Judge laughed, turning her hand to hold his instead, the Doctor lacing their fingers together as they looked down at the earth, at least the attraction was still there.

A/N: I apologize for no chapter yesterday, it turns out I did catch what's been going around my office :( I barely got out of bed yesterday, which is sad because it was a full day off and I wanted to use it to write and edit :( I'm still not feeling well but I refuse to allow the stories to go more than 1 day without an update, and even then I hate not posting :(

Lol, you know what I realized writing this chapter? Clara lost her mother, Rose lost her father, yet (so far) Clara hasn't even thought to go back in time to save her mother. I think the date that Mrs. Oswald died was the same day the shop dummies came to life in Rose so it's sort of my headcanon that she died in the attacks. I'm not sure if they'll explore that in Series 8 or not, but I just thought it was interesting to note :)

I hope you liked the little jealous moments :) Aww :) I sort of see it how people who were in a relationship and kind of parted amicably but didn't really want to break up, more just circumstances pushing them apart, seeing their former partner with someone else hanging of them might make them jealous too ;) Because of the history there :) And we also got some 'Moonites' and Jenny! ^-^

No real notes on reviews for the last chapter ;)


	6. A Town Called Mercy - Part 1

**A/N:** I want to apologize for the severe lack of chapters the last week :( I try my best to put up notices on tumblr if I find myself unable to post a chapter and this was such an occasion. I returned from a doctor's appointment on the 3rd to find that, despite feeling we had resolved our issues with my writings, my parents had removed my computer from my room, entirely. My tower, keyboard, monitor, mouse, printer, everything was gone. They told me it was going to be locked away for a week and I should have gotten it back on the 10th but they decided I deserved 3 extra days because my brother had a 3-day race last weekend that I didn't go to. My sister was going down the shore for the weekend and I felt I needed to stay home to feed our puppies and let them out and take care of them because it was too late to find other accommodations or sitters for them. Because I missed the race, 3 more days without the computer :( My father just returned from work a short while ago and gave me my computer back so I immediately logged on and did probably the quickest edit of my life to get the chapters up lol.

I really am very sorry for the last week :( Unfortunately, because I was unable to access the internet during that time, I've had to reschedule when my stories will be posted for this year. I'll be updating my schedule on tumbler (Upcoming Stories) and I'm so sad to say that my Lord of the Rings (Aragorn/OC) story will have to be pushed to 2015 as a result, but I'll still be posting Big Bang Theory (Sheldon/OC), Doctor Who (Time Lady 5), and Star Wars (Anakin/OC) this year. But I've got my computer back now and I'm hopeful that this won't happen again :)

~8~

A Town Called Mercy - Part 1

"I don't quite think we're in Mexico, Doctor," the Judge remarked as she stood beside him, just before a sign for a town called Mercy, a little note to the side of their gate that announced there were 81 residents in total beyond. Originally it was 80 but the 0 had been crossed out to add the 1. Contrary to the rather humble and caring name there was quite a mess of keep out signs scattered around the little gate, along with a line of stone and branches that seemed to circle the town itself. It was certainly a far cry from Mexico where they had been hoping to take the Ponds to the Day of the Dead festival.

"Mercy," the Doctor read off the signs, not quite as perturbed or upset that they'd missed the mark for Mexico, "81 residents," he glanced at the Judge, smiling, "Care to make it 85?"

"We're not living here," the Judge shook her head with a small smile, "I don't quite care for the fashions of the time," she grimaced, thinking of the 'can can girls' as she'd seen them called.

"You don't care for any human fashions," he reminded her.

"Oi," she nudged him, laughing, "I've adapted well enough, thank you very much," she gestured at her outfit, it was practically the same sort she'd been wearing the entire time they'd travelled since the Ponds decided to remain on Earth for the most part, save the colors were different. She was wearing a dark gray set of trousers and her plaid shirt was red this time instead of the blue the Ponds had seen her in last.

"Yeah," he eyed her playfully, "Plaid is…alright."

"Says the man in the bowtie?" she scoffed.

"Oi, bowties are cool," he tugged on his, grinning.

Amy was torn between rolling her eyes at them and shaking her head with a smile, but the latter won out. She had been…shocked, to say the least, when she'd found out that the Doctor was married. She knew he had children at one point or another, but, as odd as it was, she hadn't really given consideration to the woman behind it all, to the mother, to the wife. Seeing her with the Doctor, there was an ease about them. There was still a tension, a hesitancy, but there was a fondness, a love she'd even go so far to say. She recognized the signs between them though, it was the same as with her and Rory in the months after they decided to give their marriage a second go. There was a question of what to do, how to act around the other one, what was acceptable touches and what should be worked towards. They had managed to get back to a comfortable ground in the 10 months between the Asylum and the Dinosaurs, and, even though she didn't know how much time had gone on for the Doctor and Judge, she could tell it wasn't enough for them to have reached that point.

Right now, she could see, they were more very close friends with a certain…possessiveness with each other. It was sweet, to see the little looks the Doctor threw her, the easy way that the Judge was able to reason with him, she knew that had to come from centuries with him though, with knowing who he was so intimately that she just…knew him.

"Look at this," she called, gesturing to the line around the town, it was rather…out of place in a way, what use was there for borders when there was nothing but desert around them? It was odd, "It's a load of stones and lumps of wood," she watched as the Doctor scanned the sonic along it, "What is it?"

"A load of stones and lumps of wood," he shrugged, stepping over the line and spinning around, holding out a polite hand to the Judge to take as he helped her step over the line as well. He gave her hand a light kiss to the back of it before he let it go, the two of them walking on.

"Er, the sign does say, 'Keep out,'" Rory called.

"I see keep-out signs as suggestions more than actual orders. Like dry clean only."

"There are times I genuinely wonder if you can even read English, Doctor," the Judge told him jokingly as they continued, the Ponds following them down the streets of Mercy. She frowned though as they finally reached the residents, they were watching the four of them from behind windows and in doorways, tugging their children back as though they were dangerous.

The Doctor looked over, distracted as a street lamp actually sparked, "That's not right," he pulled the sonic out and flashed it at the lamp, scanning it.

"It's a street lamp," Rory shrugged.

"Yes, thank you Captain Obvious," the Judge remarked dryly, making Rory roll his eyes at that, making herself smile slightly, thinking of another Captain she knew, the same one that had taught her that phrase, "But it's more what SORT of street lamp it is."

"And what sort was it?" Rory countered, just as dryly.

"Seriously?" she stared at him, "It just _sparked_…and you're asking what sort it is?"

"Well I don't know," Rory shrugged, "Is it alien? Is it an alien street lamp? Is it going to turn into some sort of robot?"

"It's not a Transformer, Rory," the Judge shook her head, "It's an_ electric_ street lamp."

"And?"

The Judge gave him an incredulous look before she turned to the Doctor, "You really need to work on finding Companions that actually understand history."

The Doctor chuckled slightly at that as Rory began glowering, "An electric street lamp would be about ten years too early," he told the man.

"Well it's only a few years out," Rory muttered, not seeing what was so big about that little fact.

"That's what you said when you left your phone recharger in Henry VIII's en-suite," the Doctor reminded him.

"We really should go get that back," the Judge murmured, they'd hidden it the last time they'd been there, having gotten a bit off track trying to return the Ponds to Earth after the Asylum. They doubted Henry would spot it, but they really did need to get it back, sooner rather than later would be best. She hadn't even been aware that it had been lost till they were flying to Earth…now that she thought about it, the Doctor's assurance that it was well hidden should not be something she relied on.

"Doctor, um..." Amy began, starting to grow uncomfortable with all the people staring at them with distrust.

But the Doctor was just grinning away, "Anachronistic electricity, keep-out signs, aggressive stares..." he glanced at the Judge, "Has someone been peeking at my Christmas list?"

"I'm not about to spoil you any more than you already are, dear," the Judge patted his shoulder, making him pout.

But he just shrugged, "I should really get rid of that list," he remarked.

"Why?" the Judge glanced at him.

He simply smiled at her, "I doubt anything could top having you back," he told her, lightly taking her hand, not entwining their fingers, but just holding it, "Best gift I could hope for."

She gave him a soft smile for that, "I can think of a few others," she whispered lightly, and he knew what she meant but…to say it out loud, that the absolute best gift either of them could have, even more so than finding each other again, would be to have their children back, to have them alive once more. They both could agree that that would be the ultimate gift, the absolute best, but to say it out loud would shatter them, they…they weren't ready to talk about their children and how they'd lost them, not yet.

The Doctor took her hand, held in his, with his other hand, lifting it to his mouth to kiss it, rubbing it before he let go, pulling a toothpick from his jacket and sticking it into his mouth, winking at her before he hurried off towards the Saloon.

The Judge shook her head fondly at him, always, for as long as she knew him, nearly every incarnation of him would do that. Change the topic, change his emotions instantly so that he wouldn't have to think or talk about what was bothering him. She would usually pull him aside, somewhere private and quiet and get him to open up to her, to tell her what was wrong, but she knew what was wrong…and she didn't know what she could say to make it better, because there was nothing. And they both knew it.

"Doctor!" Amy huffed, turning back to see him already having disappeared through the batwing doors of the Saloon, the three of them quickly hurrying after him, stepping in after him.

There had been music going, chatter and laughing and gambling, but the moment they entered, it went dead silent. The Doctor didn't seem to notice as he merely walked over to the bar, where a female bartender was wiping it down.

"Tea," he ordered, trying his hand at an American accent, "But the strong stuff. Leave the bag in," he moved to flip the toothpick with his mouth but it got stuck, prompting him to pull it out with his fingers and set it down.

"What you doing here, son?" the bartender asked.

"Son?" the Judge scoffed, he was probably older than everyone in that town combined.

The Doctor chuckled at that, "You can stay," he winked at the woman.

"Sir?" a voice called behind them and they turned to see a black man in a pristine black suit had stood, gripping his lapels as he addressed the Doctor, "Might I enquire who you is?"

"Of course," the Doctor cheered, "This is Amy and Rory," he pointed at them, "The Judge," he nodded at the Judge, "And I am the Doctor..." he trailed off a moment as all the men in the saloon stood up suddenly, "No need to stand," he waved them off, glancing at Amy and Rory, "You see that? Manners."

"Humans with manners," the Judge murmured, "Don't see that very often."

"Oi!" both the Ponds cried.

"I worked with JACK," she told them by way of excuse, "Hardly the best example of polite humans, Torchwood. They REALLY love their guns…"

It was so odd to think on that. She hadn't really felt comfortable with weapons in the incarnations at the end of the war and the one that had first seen the Doctor after the Void had been sealed. But the longer she was with Torchwood, with the main crew, the more she got used to them and using them. It wasn't actually till she'd run into Jenny, since she'd learned she was technically her step-daughter, that she started to shy away from using the guns. By then it was just her and Jack left in Torchwood, Gwen had officially left, wanting to raise her daughter in peace, and they'd met Jenny and it had been the three of them for a while. She wasn't adverse to guns, not after the war and Torchwood, but she'd prefer it if it never came down to using them.

The Doctor glanced back when he felt someone touching his shoulders, thinking it was the Judge, only to see it was an older man with a measuring tape, "Oh, thank you, but I don't need a new suit."

"I'm the undertaker, sir," the man rasped.

"That's an…interesting title," the Judge blinked at him.

"I got a question," another voice called, this time a young man, "Is you an alien?"

"Well," the Doctor began, keeping the Judge from remarking on how grammatically incorrect that question was, "Um...bit personal. It's all relative, isn't it? I mean, I think YOU'RE the aliens. But in this context, yes. Yes, I suppose I am. Jud…"

He had only just begun to mention that the Judge was one too when the men rushed at him, grabbing him and hauling him up above them before they carried him out of the saloon.

The Judge glanced at the Ponds, pointing at the door the men went through, "Please tell me that is typical human behavior?" she had to ask, she genuinely didn't know if this was meant to be common place or not. Oh she knew how Torchwood would react, how humans that knew of aliens would, but humans that...she had thought...didn't know about aliens, that was another question. Brian had been more in a state of shock and he had only really been around dinosaurs not real aliens.

"No," Amy answered.

"Brilliant," she sighed, before rushing out the door after the Doctor, Amy and Rory after her.

They could hear the men shouting as they carried the Doctor on, could hear him trying to reassure them not to worry, that everything was fine and under control…until the men threw him right over the line around the town.

_"_Argh," he moaned as he stood and cracked his back, "Ow," he turned, attempting to step back into the town when all the men grabbed their guns and aimed it at him, forcing the Doctor to hold his hands up in surrender.

"Hold on, hold on!" the Judge stormed forward, moving in front of the Doctor, though still within the town line, and facing the men, "This is what you humans do when you're trying to cast out a criminal," she stated, knowing that much from various planets, usually they would 'run the bad guy out of town' or some other such rubbish, "So tell me…what crime could he have POSSIBLY committed having been in your town all of 5 minutes?"

"Dear…it's alright," the Doctor tried to sooth her, tensing more at the fact that she was in the path of the guns than that the guns had been aimed at him. He stepped closer, placing his hands on her shoulders as hers were on her hips.

"No it is not," she snapped, not even looking back at him, "You tell me what crime it was and then explain to me why he was not given a fair trial to defend himself?" she demanded of the men.

But it appeared they weren't focusing on her…so much as something BEHIND Her.

"He's coming," the black man breathed, "Oh, God. He's coming."

"Preacher...say something," the boy pleaded.

As the Preacher began to pray, the Doctor and Judge looked behind them to see a large man in black with a weapon where his arm was, with a sort of cybernetic red eye over half his face, stalking towards them, disappearing and reappearing via teleport. A gunshot being fired into the air was enough to pull their attention back towards the town though, the men parting and lowering their weapons, revealing a man in typical western attire, a thick moustache on his face, brown hair and blue eyed.

"You," the man gestured at the Doctor with his gun, "Bowtie. Get back across that line," he turned, revealing a shiny star-badge on his vest, the marshal, "Now."

The Doctor quickly took a step over the line, he and the Judge watching as the man in black just disappeared mid-teleport, not appearing again.

"Isaac," the young man turned to the marshal, "He said he was a doctor...an _alien_ doctor."

"And that's a crime here?" the Judge scoffed at the same time Isaac questioned, "That a reason to hand him to his death?"

"But, Isaac, it could be him!" the boy insisted, ignoring the Judge's question.

"You know it ain't," Isaac gave him a pointed look before he turned to head away.

The Time Lords exchanged a look before moving after him, Amy and Rory close behind, the townspeople grumbling unhappily behind them.

~8~

Isaac headed right for his desk the moment they entered the town's marshal's office, a jail cell set up across from it, the Time Lords spotting someone lying within the cell, a blanket pulled up over their body and face as they entered. They glanced at each other, both coming to a silent realization of who the person was before heading over to Isaac as the man moved to lean on the corner of his desk, watching them enter with the Ponds behind them.

"Care to explain how your town turned so lawless when they apparently DO have a marshal here to keep order?" the Judge crossed her arms and gave the man a disapproving look.

The Doctor couldn't help but grin at that, he'd noticed that this Judge, quite contrary to the last Judge he'd seen, who had grabbed a gun and pulled it on River Song to set time right, was a little more…conservative than she had been. She was more cautious, she seemed to not want to be the center of attention and also appeared to try not to get too involved in major goings on. He would be lying if he said he wasn't trying to coax that out of her a little by putting them in the middle of some events, but for the most part, she seemed slightly more nervous than her last self, more prone to rubbing her legs when she was uncomfortable or didn't know what to do.

But this? This was her element, this was the law, this was crime and criminals and rules and justice and, well, judgment. This was where she excelled and he was rather eager to see that side of her come out, the Judge of old, the one that sat in on the cases in Gallifrey, made decisions on the law, upheld it, kept order. She had always had a commanding presence, and always in different ways, he'd seen. Every incarnation of her acted differently, but they all held the sort of quiet authority that had made her rather well respected on Gallifrey.

It hurt him to know that his adventures in time and space had had an adverse reaction to her reputation though, no one had said it out loud, not when he visited, not to the Judge ever, but it was clear in how many of her rulings started to be appealed after he'd gone on his journey's, like they felt her judgment was off, like she was less inclined to keep to the rules and laws because HE had gone off to abandon the rules of their people. Only very few of her cases were every truly appealed however, she had worked harder to prove to the people that, while her husband was off on a romp and breaking their laws every single time he set down and interfered, SHE was quite capable of upholding them.

He was excited though, to see her handle this situation. Often he got involved and people turned to him because he was 'The Doctor' and that made them think he could take care of them, their health, the situation and he could, for the most part. But this, this was rules and laws and he could be the first to admit that it wasn't his strong suit at all, it was the Judge's, and here she was. He loved to watch her work, even though he was always the first in line to break the rules, he loved watching her at work and keeping order to his chaos. Oh that had made the first part of their marriage hell, she had rules and order…and he was more chaotic and sloppy. He might have purposefully been more messy than normal just to irritate her, but he slowly started to come around and at least try to keep things presentable.

Isaac sighed loudly, running a hand down his face at that, "Sorry about that," he looked at the Doctor more than the others as HE had been the target of the mob, "I try, but I'm just one person and the town's got 80 other people running amok and…"

The Judge held up her hand, "Then get a deputy," she told him simply.

"Would that I could," Isaac mumbled.

The Judge frowned as she eyed him, "Why were they about to toss my husband to that man?" she continued, "Why is that man demanding an alien doctor in the first place? What crime has this alien doctor committed against him?"

"That 'man,'" Isaac used quotey fingers, clearly not thinking the man in black was a real man but something else, "Calls himself the Gunslinger. Showed up three weeks back. We've been prisoners ever since. You see that borderline, stretching round the town? Woke up one morning, there it was. Nothing gets past it, in or out. No supply wagons, no reinforcements. Pretty soon, the whole town's going to starve to death."

"But...he let US in," Rory pointed out.

"You ain't carrying any food, just three more mouths to feed. We'll all die even sooner now."

"What happens if someone crosses the line?" the Doctor wondered, and Isaac tossed him a Stetson with a bullet hole in it as an answer, "Ah, well..." he examined the hat, poking his finger through it, "He wasn't a very good shot then."

"He was aiming for the hat."

"He shoots people's hats?!"

"I think it was a warning shot," Amy murmured.

"Which brings up my prior question," the Judge fixed her gaze on Isaac, "What crime has this alien doctor committed that is warranting the Gunslinger to attack?"

"And what does he want? Has he issued some kind of demand?"

"He says he wants us to give him 'the alien doctor,'" Isaac shrugged as they passed the hat back to him.

"Yes, but WHY?" the Judge shook her head and looked around, "Seriously am I the ONLY one curious about the crime that had to have been committed against the Gunslinger? No one attacks for no reason. This…alien doctor, he had to have done something."

Amy turned to the Doctor, "What did you do this time Doctor?" she crossed her arms, trying to appear as though a scolding mother.

"You humans really don't listen do you?" the Judge started to rub her forehead at that, more moving her index finger up and down from her eyebrows to her hairline, the Doctor letting out a little chuckle at that, it was something she'd always done when she was getting a migraine due to the 'stupidity of others.'

"What did we do now?" Amy rounded on her, huffing at yet another remark against humanity. She honestly couldn't understand how the Doctor had managed to marry this woman, let alone create a working marriage, and STILL so obviously love her when she kept putting down the species he seemed most fond of.

"When the others were trying to toss the Doctor to the Gunslinger and Isaac stopped it, that boy said that the Doctor was AN alien Doctor, not THE alien Doctor," she pointed out, "Isaac himself told them that they KNEW our Doctor wasn't the doctor they were speaking of. Stands to reason that there is already an alien doctor here, right now, otherwise the Gunslinger wouldn't be staking out the town trying to draw him out."

The humans blinked at that.

"Yes," the Doctor cheered, moving beside the Judge and draping his arm around her, beaming proudly at her, her mind and logic was still as sharp as ever, "You already know who this alien doctor is," he turned to Isaac, "Two alien Doctors! We're like buses. Resident 81, I presume also. So beloved by the townsfolk, he warranted an alteration to the sign. Probably because he rigged up these electrics," he pointed up as the lights flickered, making the humans realize that there were electric lights working there as well, "And I'm guessing he's in here because if half the town suddenly wanted to throw me to my death... this is where I'd want to be."

"I don't know what you..." Isaac tried to argue.

"It's alright, Isaac," a voice came from behind them, making the four turn to see the man in the cell sit up, pulling the blanket down, "I think the time for subterfuge has passed," he stood, revealing himself to be a rather short man with a well made suit on, a teal squiggling tattoo on the side of his face with small round spectacles, "Good afternoon. My name is Kahler-Jex. I'm the doctor."

Isaac sighed and stepped past the four of them to unlock the cell, allowing Jex to step out, the Doctor immediately moving to shake the man's hand vigorously, looking as though he were about to tear the man's hand off in the process of his excitement at meeting him, "The Kahler. I love the Kahler. One of the most ingenious races in the galaxy, seriously. They could build a spaceship out of Tupperware and moss."

"Alright," Amy rolled her eyes and tugged the Doctor away so that he would release Jex, "How did you get here?"

"My craft crashed about a mile or so out of town," Jex told them as he moved to sit beside Isaac at the desk, "I would have died if Isaac and the others hadn't pulled me from the wreckage."

"And you stayed?" the Doctor realized, "As their doctor?"

"On my world, I was a surgeon, so it seemed logical and it gave me an opportunity to repay my debt to them."

"Listen to him," Isaac chuckled, "Talking like it was nothing. Tell them about the cholera."

Jex jolted as Isaac slapped him on the back in praise, "Now, Isaac, I'm sure our guests aren't..."

"Two years after he arrived, there was an outbreak of cholera. Thanks to the doc here not a single person died."

"A minor infection we'd found a treatment for centuries ago," Jex tried to wave it off.

"No, no, no. What do you call them? The lectricks?"

"Using my ship as a generator, I was able to rig up some rudimentary heating and lighting for the town."

"So there was only enough left of your ship to act as generator, but not enough to rebuild it and return home?" the Judge frowned at that, straightening her back in suspicion.

"Well…"

"And for that matter, you were a surgeon on Kahler…so tell me, what did you do to the Gunslinger that has him coming after you?"

"I…don't know," Jex murmured.

"You don't?" she raised an eyebrow at that.

"I haven't met the Gunslinger before he started to target me."

The Judge's eyes narrowed slightly, "Is that so?"

"Yes."

"You really expect me to believe he randomly started to target you?" she scoffed, shaking her head, "Seriously is no one curious as to what he could have possibly done to make the Gunslinger come after him here? Or why he left the planet in the first place?"

"Yes…why _does_ the Gunslinger want you?" the Doctor asked.

"It don't matter," Isaac defend.

"Like hell it doesn't," the Judge dropped her arms, looking at him incredulous, "For all you know, you could be harboring a fugitive. For all you know, the Gunslinger could be the Kahler version of YOU," she pointed at him, leaning in to poke Isaac's shiny marshal badge, "He _could_ be here to bring Jex back to his planet for trial and YOU are interfering with intergalactic relations."

"I…" Isaac blinked owlishly at that, clearly he had NOT considered that.

"Let me guess, Jex told you that HE was the good guy, that the Gunslinger was the criminal here, and you believed him?" the Judge shook her head, "Just like that."

"Well…the doc helped us," Isaac argued, "The Gunslinger's tryin' to kill us."

"Is he?" the Judge countered, the Doctor actually moving to pull up a chair and watch her debate this, "Has he actively tried to kill any of you?"

"No," Isaac frowned.

"Has he been the one to force your town to starve due to not having access to Jex or was that YOUR doing in refusing to give him up?"

"It…"

"Does it really sound like a criminal to wait outside your town, to not touch a hair on your heads, to not harm you?"

"But…"

"Listen," the Judge held up a hand, "The Gunslinger would not be here if not for a reason. That reason is Jex. It should have been up to you, as the marshal, to determine why someone was after a member of your town and you failed to do that. I am more concerned with what potential crime was committed that set this situation in play than to protect a man who, for all I know, COULD be the criminal in this situation. I want to know who the Gunslinger is, why he's here, what Jex might have possibly done, and WHO, if any of them, committed some sort of harm against the other that has led to all this. You give me THAT information, and THEN I may defend Jex against the Gunslinger. Until then," she shrugged, gesturing at Jex as if to say she wouldn't be reacting one way or the other.

"Does it really matter though?" Isaac tried to argue, "America's a land of second chances. We called this town Mercy for a reason. Others...some round here don't feel that way."

"Now, Isaac, we've discussed this," Jex sighed.

"People whose lives you saved are suddenly saying we should hand you over."

"They're scared, that's all. You can hardly blame them."

"And if he did commit a crime," the Judge cut in, "Then it would be YOUR duty as the representative of the law, to do so."

"They're just scared," Isaac defended, clearly not thinking that Jex was capable of crime, which was only making the Judge more uneasy about the man, Jex was making too big a show of trying to defend the people and garner Isaac's protection to be entirely innocent, "War only ended five years back. That old violence is still under the surface. We give up Doc Jex, then we're handing the keys of the town over to chaos."

"A man walks into your home and shoots your mother in the head," the Judge countered, "Would you wish to give him a second chance?" she asked Isaac, "Would you want someone from a neighboring town to protect him from the law? Would you want his trial impeded, his punishment withdrawn? Would you want the law that would call his act a murder and homicide ignored solely because another man thinks he's only trying to help?"

"That ain't fair," Isaac frowned, "You're twisting the situation and…"

"What situation?" she stood straighter, "By your own admission, you know NOTHING about what has transpired between the Gunslinger and Jex. You don't know, you cannot say for certain, if Jex is NOT a criminal, and that possibility alone should have you treat him as an unbiased upholder of the law instead of a friend looking out for a victim. It comes down to the truth of the matter, and you have biased yourself so much in favor of Jex that you can't seem to realize that there IS a possibility HE committed a crime and that the Gunslinger could very well be justified in seeking justice from him."

"Did you try to repair your craft?" the Doctor asked out of nowhere, or what seemed like nowhere to the humans, but the Judge cast him a glance to see his expression had grown more serious as he listened to her. He was trying to catch Jex in an obvious lie as proof to Isaac that he couldn't be trusted. It was already clear to them, with how he denied knowing the Gunslinger, that he was hiding something, "Surely someone with your skills..."

"It really was very badly damaged," Jex swallowed hard.

The Doctor glanced at the Judge, giving her a subtle nod as he stood, "We evacuate the town. Our ship's just over the hills. Room for everyone. I'll pop out, bring it back here. Robert's your uncle."

"Really?" Amy scoffed, "Simple as that? No crazy schemes? No negotiations?"

The Judge nearly laughed at that, for a girl who seemed to think that she was some sort of special person to the Doctor, the one he told everything to (he'd told her once about a Dream Lord incident), she didn't appear to be able to read the Doctor very well. Granted, she hadn't seen her husband, the version of him she married, in centuries, and she hardly got a chance to really know his next incarnations, this being the first she was truly spending a good deal of time around, but she still knew how he thought. He wasn't going to get the TARDIS, he was going to inspect Jex's ship, he just needed a reasonable excuse to leave the town without suspicion.

"I've matured," he shrugged, "I'm 1,200 years old now, bout time I tried to catch up eh?" he winked at the Judge. She had been 250 years older than him when they first married, just barely within the terms of the age old agreement between their families, which did explain slightly why she was so orderly and mature, but, through his adventures and her time on Earth, she was about 1,165 years old at the moment, the irony that HE the most immature of the two of them was now older than her, the more mature, was not lost on them, "Plus, I don't want to miss 'The Archers.'"

"Oh, so you're not even a tiny bit curious?" Amy smirked at him as he took the Stetson with the bullet hole and slipped it on.

"Why would I be curious?" he grinned, "It's a mysterious space cowboy assassin. Curious? Of course I'm not curious."

The Judge sighed as the Doctor turned to leave to see to his plan (that was likely more a thing in progress) and looked at Isaac, "As always, his 'things' are rather lacking," she referenced his plan to get to the TARDIS, "Isaac, I may need your help getting him past the Gunslinger."

Isaac nodded solemnly and stood.

~8~

To say the Doctor was pleased with the fact that the Judge had insisted on helping Isaac distract the Gunslinger so that he could 'get to the TARDIS' would be a vast understatement. Especially when the plan she'd come up with for how to do that involved Isaac dressed in Jex's suit jacket and bowler hat and her running through the desert with him to make it seem like she was trying to help him escape. The Doctor had been adamant that Rory should go with Isaac and that she stay there and 'watch out for Amy' as Jex was still very much present. However, bringing up the death defying situations he'd been in over the centuries when she had been on Gallifrey had squashed that argument before it could really get going. On top of that, Isaac and the humans appeared to think that Jex was entirely innocent, that the Gunslinger was the one that was dangerous and trying to hurt people (despite the fact that the Judge had just pointed out that the Gunslinger was keeping out of the town so as not to harm anyone). It would only serve to make Jex suspicious of the Doctor's plans with his ship if they started to treat and watch him like a true criminal, though they both feared he was. Rory hadn't wanted to leave his wife, which the Doctor could understand, but it was more that he seemed to take the Judge's words to heart (wanting to prove that humans COULD listen) and he was more wary of Jex now than before, so he refused to go without Amy. That left only the Judge able to go with Isaac in the end anyway.

Though the Doctor had given her a quick peck on the cheek for luck and made her swear she'd be careful first.

So there they were, rushing through the desert, Isaac in Jex's coat and hat as they hurried along the rock ridges just outside the town, ducking for cover so that the Gunslinger wouldn't quite manage to actually fire at them as he was currently doing.

"Down!" the Judge shouted, shoving Isaac to the side, behind a larger rock, avoiding a blast meant for them. If there was one thing to say about her, she had very, very good reflexes.

Which was odd as she was rather terrible and slow growing up, but having children and needing to catch things before they fell and broke, and then being in a war , and then working with Torchwood…she'd improved a great deal.

"Did he get you?" she looked Isaac over quickly.

"No, no, I'm fine," Isaac panted, "You?"

"Fine," she nodded, risking a quick glance over the rock, "But we have to go, now, he's heading this way."

"Great," Isaac grumbled, "Next time...you get to wear Jex's clothes."

"We have to make it to a next time first," she reminded him, urging him on, her hand on his back to keep him running towards another ridge, closer to the town. They jumped to the side as the ground only a foot away from them exploded.

"I think he's seen us," Isaac breathed.

"Go, go, go," she pushed him on, the two of them diving behind the base of the ledge, pressing themselves to it.

"So, we wait here till the Doctor comes to pick us up in your ship?" Isaac glanced at her.

"Yes…about that…" she winced. She hadn't exactly lied to him, she had never told him this part of the plan, just that they would run about and try to draw the Gunslinger's attention. She should have realized he would assume that the Doctor would pick them up and not that they would be making their own way back to the town. She was quite sure though, that he wasn't going to like her telling him they were basically bait to give the Doctor time to gather evidence either for or against Jex…

~8~

Returning to the jail to see Jex holding Amy at gunpoint was not something Isaac expected, though it wasn't quite a surprise to the Judge as they approached the building, having heard a shrill alarm going off in the desert that seemed to draw the Gunslinger away and give them time to return to the town. They had been able to hear Jex speaking to Amy, the man being so near the doorway anyway, but they hadn't been able to see till they'd gotten closer.

"Isaac says he doesn't care about my past," Jex had been saying, "But things may have been uncovered that even he might struggle to forgive. So it's best we beat a hasty retreat."

"We?" Amy scoffed as they drew nearer, able to see them through the windows of the jail, "I'm coming with you?"

"It's unlikely the Gunslinger will shoot if I'm with you," Jex reasoned and the Judge saw Isaac frown at that, "As far as I can tell, he's programmed to take innocent lives only if absolutely necessary."

"Then you DO know who he is," the Judge spoke from behind him as Isaac pointed his gun at Jex, if just because he had his own gun aimed at Amy and it was a typical and trained response for him. She could see, from how he held it though, that he had no intention to use it, it was more for show, more to get Jex to lower his own gun than anything else, "Lie number 1 then."

"Doc, what are you doin'?" Isaac frowned, looking over to see Rory lying on the ground, face down, a red mark in the back of his neck that left no doubt that Jex has smashed the gun into the back of the man's neck to knock him out and get Amy alone.

Jex turned stiffly to see the two of them and quickly lowered the gun, stepping back to place it on a stool and raising his hands in surrender, Amy not even hesitating to run over to Rory and rouse him.

"It was stupid of me," Jex murmured, glancing from Amy to Isaac as he moved to stand against the back wall, "I realize that now. I just thought I'd put you all in enough danger, perhaps if I left..."

"He's lying," a voice spoke behind them and the Doctor slowly entered the jail, his gaze fixed on Jex and the Judge could see a darkness in his eyes, a fury in them, whatever it was he'd learned about Jex he was not very pleased to know, "Every word. Everything he says, it's...all...lies. This man is a murderer."

"What?" the Judge's eyes widened at that.

"I am a scientist!" Jex cried, offended.

But the Doctor focused on him, "Sit down," he demanded, though Jex remained standing defiantly, "SIT DOWN!" he snapped, the suddenness of it sending Jex falling back onto a stool behind him.

"Doctor?" the Judge walked over to him, placing a hand on his arm, "What happened?" she asked him quietly, glancing at the others before speaking in Gallifreyan, "_What did you see?_"

"_You don't want to know Carah,_" he shook his head, looking at her intently, a glimmer of protectiveness in his eyes, he didn't want her to have to see what he had.

"_But I have to,_" she countered, "_If I want to be able to make a sound judgment about this, I need to know ALL the evidence._"

He sighed but nodded, he had always been the more rash and emotional of the two, the one more likely to run headlong into something, to react instead of think. He didn't want her to know what he'd seen, what Jex had done, but he knew she would be able to sort past her own feelings about it, the disgust and anger and horror of it all, to see the crime committed behind it by Kahler law, she would be able to determine what should be done easier than he could.

He reached out and placed his hands on either side of her face, hesitating only a moment, having not truly touched her that intimately for…a very long time. He stepped closer to her, his fingertips at her temples and tilted her head forward to rest his to hers, closing his eyes as she did her own, relaying all that he'd seen to her via their telepathic connection. It was growing stronger the more time they spent around each other, it was how things naturally happened for couples on Gallifrey. They were largely telepathic people, but it was the ones you spent the most time with that you were able to read easier, without another telepathic person around, they were able to build up their connection again. He was able to share with her, deposit in her mind, all he'd seen in Jex's ship. He showed her leaving the town and finding the cord that led to the Kahler ship. He showed her breaking into the fully intact ship, not at all in pieces or damaged like Jex wanted them to believe, showed her the alarm going off, the one she had heard that had lured the Gunslinger away. And he showed her the documentation of Jex's experiments on Kahler, the people screaming, the subjects being converted into what the Gunslinger was, a cyborg. It was almost worse than a Dalek puppet, they weren't just hollowed out and converted to a Dalek mindset, they were physically being controlled by the Kahler scientists, they were nothing but machines with human qualities. It was disgusting, especially when he showed her how easily the scientists had 'decommissioned' their subjects, their own people, how carelessly they had cast away Kahler life as though they were disposing of a can opener that ceased to work.

The Judge let out a breath as she opened her eyes, reaching up to touch his wrists, closing her fingers around them lightly as she pulled away. Her eyes searched his own as they opened as well, seeing how pained he was and she knew, their minds still close, that all he could think about was their children, if they had been Kahler, if THEIR children had been selected for such programs as the Gunslinger had been called into. She swallowed hard and stepped away from him, forcing those images out of her mind. It was the hardest thing she always had to do as a judge on Gallifrey, separate herself and her personal feelings on things from what the letter of the law would demand. She couldn't let things like thinking if it was her children or some personal experience with a law cloud her judgment, she had to be as unbiased and blind as the law was in order to maintain order.

"Tell them," the Doctor looked at Jex, trying to give the Judge a moment to process what he'd shown her, "What you are."

"What am I?" Jex sat up straighter, "A war hero."

"A war criminal," the Doctor spat.

"Ok," Isaac held up his hands, putting his gun away, "Somebody want to tell me what's going on?"

"The Gunslinger," the Judge shook her head and turned to them, "He's not just a Kahler, he's a cyborg."

"A what?"

"A man with robotic parts."

"Half man, half machine," the Doctor nodded, stepping closer to Jex, "A weapon. Jex built it. He and his team took volunteers, told them they'd be selected for special training, then experimented on them, fused their bodies with weaponry and programmed them to kill!"

"And now we know part of the crime," the Judge murmured.

"But why?" Isaac frowned, turning to Jex, "Why would you do that, doc?"

"We'd been at war for nine years," Jex defended, "A war that had already decimated half of our planet."

"And so you turned to cyborgs?" the Judge looked at him, disappointment evident in her expression, "To experimentation?"

"Our task was to bring peace, and we did."

"There are other ways to peace," the Judge argued, not condemning him, but trying to understand, "Your planet was at war for nine years? Half your planet was in ruins?" she shook her head, "Our planet was at war for much longer, our war nearly destroying the entirety of the planet, having already torn the surrounding worlds apart, planets not even involved in our fight were harmed…we NEVER turned to that."

"You should have," Jex stated, no regret or remorse at all in his words, "We built an army that routed the enemy and ended the war in _less than a week_."

"And you're proud of that?" the Doctor scoffed, disgusted, "Of the lengths you had to go to for your victory?"

"Do you want me to repent?" Jex glared, "To beg forgiveness for saving millions of lives?!"

"And how many died screaming on the operating table before you had FOUND your advantage?!" the Doctor snapped.

"Doctor," the Judge strode over to him, "Take a moment," she ordered him lightly, nodding to the side.

The Doctor's jaw clenched, glaring at Jex a moment before doing as his wife had asked and moving to the side, taking time to breathe and calm down, knowing that his shouting would do nothing.

"War is another world," Jex, however, was not quite so savvy as to understand not to bait him, "You cannot apply the politics of peace to what I did, to what any of us did."

"As I understand it," the Judge cut in, moving to the side, into Jex's view of the Doctor, "Kahler has no concept of martial law," she reminded him, seeing his gaze flicker to the side as though admitting that, "Therefore, the politics of peace are ALL that can be applied to what you've done and what the Gunslinger is demanding."

"What actually happened though?" Rory asked quietly, "How come you're here if the war's over?"

"When the war ended, we had the cyborgs decommissioned," Jex explained, "But one of them must have got its circuitry damaged in battle. It went offline and began hunting down the team that created it, until just two of us were left. We fled and our ships crashed here."

"You're talking about them as though they're machines," the Judge frowned at that.

"They ARE machines," Jex defended, "They are nothing but machines now."

"NOW," she agreed, "But you forget, they were people once, they were YOUR people."

Rory glanced at the Doctor, but the Time Lord was silently standing against the cells of the jail, his arms crossed, his eyes closed, seeming to be trying to gather his thoughts, so he sighed and turned back to the three others standing over Jex, "So what do we do with Jex?"

"What do we do with him?!" Isaac frowned, not seeming to understand.

"Yeah, I mean he's a war criminal."

"No," Isaac shook his head, "He's the guy that saved the town from cholera, the guy that gave us heat and light."

The Judge reached up and pressed a finger to her forehead, feeling a migraine coming more. She couldn't understand the selective hearing that humans seemed to have. Isaac had JUST heard Jex admit to lying to them all, to experimentation, to murder, and he was still looking at the man like he was god's gift to their town. He didn't seem to realize that the children of that town, everyone was in danger, because if Jex could do that to his own people…if he could do that and show no remorse…then there was a danger to the people he was only choosing to help now.

"Look," Amy cut in, "Jex may be a criminal and yeah, kinda creepy..."

"And still in the room!" Jex huffed.

"But I think we should put aside what he did and find another solution."

"Put aside his crimes?" the Judge opened her eyes and looked at Amy incredulously, "Ignore the law?"

"Another solution?" Rory agreed, "It's him or us!"

"When did we start letting people get executed?" Amy crossed her arms, "Did I miss a memo?"

"Yes," the Judge nodded, "If a law calls for execution, then that IS the memo."

"Doctor," Amy dropped her arms and rounded on the Doctor, "Tell them!"

"Hmm?" the Doctor looked up, clearly distracted, clearly not having heard a word that had been said, "Yes. I don't know. Whatever the Judge said."

The Judge gave him a small smile, both happy that he'd deferred to her authority on this, but also because she knew he only got that distracted when he was trying, actively trying, not to let something get to him and make a situation worse, she appreciated the effort, "I haven't said anything."

"Oh," he gave her a sheepish grin, "Well…what do you suppose we should do?"

"It's difficult," she began, looking at all of them, "Kahler law dictates that the injured party has right to justice. But Kahler law also categorizes a Kahler as untouched and unblemished save for their markings," she gestured at her face, "They may not see the Gunslinger as a citizen of Kahler any longer. Which does not mean anything good for Jex, to be outside the laws of a people means he is outside the law. He cannot be tried as a Kahler because of that, even if he were to kill Jex, he couldn't be subjected to a trial," she shook her head, "But given that it was a Kahler that forced this upon him, he might be able to take Jex to trial for his crimes if he had a representative. He's choosing not to though, he's choosing to see Jex dealt with by, it appears, the laws of Earth as he hasn't broken any Earth laws to get to him. But Earth doesn't have laws, at this moment, that defines what Jex has done to the Gunslinger in no uncertain terms," she shrugged, "I…all I can think is that we should return both Jex and the Gunslinger to Kahler and explain the situation to the courts, ensure that the Gunslinger is seen as a hero instead of a pariah, and that Jex is held accountable for the mutilation of one of his people. At the very least, the Gunslinger could be used as evidence of Jex's crimes."

"So that's what you want to do then?" the Doctor looked at her, "Give him to the Gunslinger on the stipulation that he return with Jex to Kahler for a proper trial?"

She nodded, "It would be what Kahler law demands. We may just have to remind him of that."

"Look at you two," Jex nearly sneered, taking his glasses off and polishing them, "It's like looking into a mirror. Almost. There's rage there, like me," they turned to look at him, "Guilt, like me. Solitude. Everything but the nerve to do what needs to be done."

"Don't do it Jex…" the Judge tried to warn him, knowing where the man was trying to take this, the bait he was lying out.

But Jex didn't heed her warning, glaring at them instead, "Thank the Gods my people weren't relying on you to save them."

And that was all that was needed for the Doctor to snap, "No," he rushed at Jex, grabbing him by the lapels of his suit, "NO!" and hauled him up, "But these people are!" before shoving him out of the jail, "OUT! OUT! OUT!"

"Doctor!" the Judge rushed after him in a split second, racing through the town as the Doctor continued to shove Jex on, the people coming out to see what was going on.

"MOVE!"

"No…" Jex struggled.

"MOVE!"

"Doctor stop!" the Judge cried, but the Doctor merely shoved Jex once more.

Right over the line around the town, into the Gunslinger's territory.

A/N: As I was watching this episode, ALL I could think of was why no one was asking what crime Jex had committed or what harm he'd done to the Gunslinger that led to all this. They asked once and let it go and I felt like someone should have been truly focused on getting that out of Jex and learning the entire truth of the matter :(

And now we know how old the Judge is :) She was meant to be older than the Doctor and now he's ended up being older than her lol :)

Again, really, truly sorry about the lack of chapters :'( But I'm back now! I'm definitely back ;)

Some notes on reviews...

We'll actually find out about the wedding/possible rings in the Power of Three ;) I can say that only the Professor from The Academic Series wears wedding bands ;) Evy isn't married to the Doctor, nor is Angel, Mac wasn't prepared for her wedding so there weren't really rings involved, and we'll find out what my version of the Time Lord marriage tradition will be very soon ;)

I could see Jenny returning with 12 in the show :)

We just might see Jenny in this story but I won't say when ;)

I'm not quite sure if all the alien invasions were wiped out, I know the universe was rebooted, but I'm not quite sure if that wiped out all prior invasions :) Lol, I think the Doctor just knocks it off as Jack's 51st century pheromones attracting everyone :)

I'm glad you're excited for TL6 :) I can't quite say if she'll have a disorder or be batty just yet, her personality shifts with regeneration so she might be batty in one but have a disorder in the next ;)

Thank you :) I'm sorry too :( Like my parents will be all proud of me if I get messages and notes that my stories are helping people deal with things, but then they sort of forget all that when they get frustrated :( They flip-flop a lot -sigh- Oh I can't wait for that day too, the second I'm able to move out of my house, even if it's to the most rundown apartment, so long as it has internet, I will be a happy person :)

Hey :) I'm not planning a HP story, mostly because I like OCs, but there is a possibility that I'd do the Harry/Daphne because she's sort of like an OC. I can't say if I'm definitely doing it. If I did, it wouldn't be till I'm done with a majority of the stories I'm planning to do, so it might not be till about 2020 that I'm even looking to other stories to right and would consider it. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, I think the Judge likes Brian as a personality too :)

Lol, I have no idea how I get the OCs to fit :) I just try my best to imagine what a person with a specific personality would do/act in the situations the Doctor gets into and I think that's why they seem to work. I don't try and alter things too much but just explore what a specific sort of person would do/react like in that setting, whether they'd change something for better or worse or not at all :)


	7. A Town Called Mercy - Part 2

A Town Called Mercy - Part 2

Jex tried to scramble to his feet, to rush back across the line, the Gunslinger already on his way towards them, but the Doctor turned and grabbed a gun off a nearby man, turning to aim it at Jex, making him raise his hands in surrender.

"Doctor!" the Judge shouted as she reached him.

"You wouldn't," Jex challenged.

All it did was lead the Doctor to cock the hammer of the gun and reaim it at the man before him, "I genuinely don't know..."

The Judge glanced at the Gunslinger, then Jex, then the Doctor, and bolted forward, shoving herself between Jex and the Doctor's gun.

"_Carah!_" the Doctor cried in Gallifreyan as she appeared before him, right in line with the gun.

"_It's not the first time I've faced down a weapon dear,_" she said, her voice unwavering, staring him down, the gun still raised though more from the shock of not lowering it instead of a genuine wish to keep it raised, "_You remember how I regenerated the second time._"

He swallowed hard at that and lowered the gun, but his grip on it remained tight, his body rigid and ready to lift it again should Jex try to sneak around her. The second time she had regenerated…he hadn't expected it, not that they ever expected when they were going to regenerate but that time and the way it happened? Their work areas were supposed to be safe and secure. She had been judging a case and…he genuinely didn't know the details of it, he didn't want to know, hadn't wanted to, because knowing too much would have just made him angrier that he hadn't been there. He tried, very hard, to be there when she was judging major cases, but that one time he'd been off planet and, somehow, a weapon had been snuck into the courtroom, an unknown accomplice of the man standing trial and the woman, the accomplice, had started firing. The Judge had been struck, had been rushed to their hospitals to try and save her. Just because they could regenerate, didn't mean they usually wanted to, they didn't just give in and let it happen, not if it could be prevented. It was very much like with humans, the doctors on Gallifrey tried their hardest to save their patients when they were critically or fatally wounded. They were trained to treat each patient like they were on their last incarnation despite what they might know of the patient in question, regenerations were precious and not to be wasted.

But she'd been too late to the hospital, had regenerated in the transport unit and, by the time he'd seen her again, she'd been on her third body. The guilt that he hadn't been there for her had eaten him alive. And, worse yet, he hadn't been there for many of her other regenerations afterwards, which he tried not to think of because he was absolutely determined to not ever allow her to go through that again. When HE had regenerated, it had been a conscious choice to be somewhere else, so that she and their children wouldn't have to witness it or what led up to it. But for her? It was HIS choices that had led to him not being there for her when he knew she would have wanted him there.

"Now," the Judge continued, speaking in English this time, seeing the humans tensing at their odd dialogue and knowing their experiences with aliens were literally two ends of a spectrum given Jex trying to help them and the Gunslinger trying to kill Jex, "I am going to move away now, Doctor, and you are going to let Jex back over the line."

"I can't," the Doctor glared past her, at Jex over her shoulder.

"You said that this was MY choice," she reminded him, crossing her arms, "That we would go by my ruling till Jex was submitted to Kahler law. _I_ decided that he and the Gunslinger should be returned to Kahler for Jex to stand trial."

"You decided wrong," he huffed, not noticing how her expression hardened at that, how her eyes narrowed, "We could _end this_ right now," he tried to explain, "We could save everyone RIGHT NOW!"

"WE do not have the right to take a Kahler crime and subject it to any other law but the Kahler's," the Judge argued, standing straighter, "You could have killed Margaret," she reminded him, the Doctor's eyes widening at the mention of the woman from centuries ago, "Yes, I know all about the Slitheen, Jack WAS there," she reminded him, "YOU made the choice that it wasn't up to YOU to decide how she answered to her crimes but that it was up to her people. HOW is this different?"

"It's different because they keep coming back!" he shouted, "Every time I negotiate, I try to understand. Well, not today! No! Today I honor the victims first! His, the Master's, the Daleks', all the people who died because of MY MERCY!"

The Judge stared him down a moment, before saying the thing she knew would make him step back and stop this, the thing she knew would hurt him as well to hear said aloud, "Have you ever considered that all those victims were targeted because YOU got involved in the first place?"

The Doctor let out a breath at that and stumbled back, staring at her with wide eyes.

The Judge let out a sad breath, "You have just gotten involved once more, Doctor, you took the law and the choice into YOUR hands in throwing Jex over the line and now you're essentially taunting the Gunslinger by putting Jex in his grasp when you KNOW someone, Isaac, Amy, SOMEONE here will pull him back. He will demand action for this and people WILL start getting hurt. Humans will become the victims yet again. Because you couldn't contain your anger and let Jex bait you."

She waited only a moment longer, seeing Isaac's gaze flickering to Jex and past him, knowing that the Gunslinger was getting closer and closer, before speaking, "This is why the Time Lords made their laws to observe only, we do NOT get involved in the affairs of others because we haven't the right to do so. And when we infringe on the rights and choices of others…THAT is when the situations turn deadly."

The Doctor looked into her eyes for that, seeing a belief in them. He knew she was speaking generally, of the whole of the Time Lords and why their society had deemed it wrong to get involved in the affairs of other planets and people, something he had always broken. And he could admit that she was right in a way, often his enemies targeted the people he cared for, humanity in general. Things happened and then HE got involved, for whatever reason, because he knew what was happening, because he thought he knew more than those there, because he thought his experience gave him the right…often he made things worse, often people were put in danger because of his actions. Wasn't that why Kovarian had come after him? He got too big, he'd said it himself, he got too big and too involved and many more people had gotten put in the line of fire because of it.

He looked down at the gun in his hand and back to the Judge, before he sighed and tossed the gun aside, "We think of something else."

"We?" the Judge breathed.

But the Doctor didn't hear her, moving to stand beside her, gesturing Jex closer, "Jex, move over the line. Now."

It was too late though, the Gunslinger was right behind Jex by now, his arm raised, weaponry whirring on it, pointed right at the back of Jex's head. Jex took a deep breath and slowly turned to face the Gunslinger.

"Make peace with your gods," the Gunslinger's deep voice rumbled.

"Kahler-Tek, isn't it?" Jex murmured, "I remember all your names, even now. Please. I'd never hurt anyone again. I'm even helping people here."

"Last chance. Make peace with your gods."

Isaac looked to the Time Lords, seeing that they were both opening their mouths to try and talk the Gunslinger down and rushed forward, hearing the weaponry whirring up. He shoved Jex aside with a cry of, "No!" taking the blast the Gunslinger meant for Jex for himself. He fell to the ground as the blast hit him, the Doctor rushing over to kneel beside the man as the Judge moved to help Jex up, keeping a grip on the Kahler now that he was over the line into town once more.

"Isaac!" the Doctor knelt down, "Isaac, Isaac, it's ok, it's ok. It's ok, we can get you to Jex's surgery, he can save you."

"Listen to me," Isaac groaned, straining to speak, gripping the Doctor's hand tightly, "You've got to stay, you've got to look after everyone."

"It won't come to that, Isaac."

"Protect Jex. Protect my town," he winced and gasped, "You're both good men...you just forget it sometimes..." he let out one last breath before his head lulled to the side.

The Doctor closed his eyes a moment in silent mourning, before he opened them and looked at his hand, having felt Isaac press something into it before he'd passed to see the Marshal's badge resting in his palm. He stood slowly, pinning it to his lapel and looked at the townspeople, "Take Jex to his cell," he stated, glancing at the Judge as she handed the man off to the town, "If anything happens to him, you'll have me to answer to," he waited till Jex was being led off before he looked at the Gunslinger, "This has gone on long enough."

"You are right," the Gunslinger agreed, though he lifted his weaponed arm to aim it at the Doctor this time.

"You didn't attack this town for a reason," the Judge called, moving to stand beside the Doctor, facing down the Gunslinger, "Consider that before you attack."

The Gunslinger paused at that, "You've got until noon tomorrow. Give him to me, or I'll kill you all," he turned, lowering his weapon and teleporting away.

The Doctor sighed and turned to the Judge, offering her a smile, "Thanks dear."

"Don't thank me yet," she murmured, "I only bought us time."

"I'm good with time though," he tried to smile, but she only gave him a look and stepped away from him, back towards the Ponds. His smile started to fall, knowing automatically that something was wrong.

"Oh, my God, you're the marshal," Amy gasped, spotting the shiny star on his lapel.

"Yeah," he forced a smile and glanced at the Judge, "Care to be my deputy?"

She eyed him a moment, her hands moving to rest on her legs, gently rubbing her jeans, "Your deputy?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "You and I, marshal and deputy, what a team eh?"

"And therein lies the rub," she murmured, "We're not a team anymore, are we."

The Doctor's expression fell as the Judge turned and headed off after the small group taking Jex away. He closed his eyes at that.

~8~

The Judge stood outside the jail, her hands resting on the railing of the small porch just beyond the door, her back to the building, looking out at the town. She could feel it, even from there, through the window, the Doctor's gaze on her back. She let out a long breath, she felt badly about what she'd said to him before, but it had needed to be said. The Doctor, for all his good qualities, could, at times, get rather self-righteous. He sometimes thought that his word should be law because he was more clever or because he had some sort of experience with aliens that others didn't. Most of the time, yes, he should be listened to, but there were times when his words and actions led to more conflict. There were times she knew that he didn't like to think of, when others got hurt because of him, but sometimes he DID have to be reminded that he was not infallible, that he did make mistakes, and that sometimes it was best to stay out of things. He was not always right and he needed to be reminded of that, he had made mistakes in the past and he had made choices that had caused tension as well. He wasn't a bad man, not at all, but sometimes he forgot that things didn't always work out well just because he was taking charge.

That wasn't what bothered her though, she had known almost from the moment that Jex started to bait him, that he would react that way. He was always more rash and emotional, he acted without thinking at times, especially when he was angry. He made mistakes when that happened. No, she half expected, half feared that he would have done just as he had, had hoped he wouldn't but had known he might. No, what was bothering her was the fact that his actions had completely contradicted what he'd said only moments before. It…hurt…more than angered her that he had given HER the reins on this, that he had deferred to HER judgment…and then blatantly ignored that in preference of his own decisions.

He'd said she was wrong to make the decision she had.

Oh they had fought before, about that, about their decisions, mostly when it came to raising their children. Not very vocal fights, not shouting, but more disagreements. They had made a promise to each other, when their first child had been born, that they would attempt to always discuss things instead of allow things to reach a shouting level. IF they ever reached that point, they swore to never ever have the children near enough to hear them. They hardly ever reached that point after the children had been born though.

It just…this was her element, this was the law and rules and justice and rulings and judgment and…he'd said she was wrong. She didn't go around critiquing his doctoring abilities, she didn't tell him he was patching up Solomon wrong, because she didn't know the first thing about it. She didn't know how to be a doctor, even when their children scrapped their knees or were ill, it was always the Doctor to take care of them, because HE was the doctor. HE knew about illnesses and about care and mending, she knew rules and codes and laws. She was hurt that he would throw her words away so easily, that he would cast aside her judgment about the situation, especially after having said they would do what SHE said they should.

It made her feel like he didn't care for her opinion, that her thoughts were being ignored, that her desires were being pushed aside. For him to say that she had the choice in the matter and then to take it away from her? What did that say about what he truly thought about her? What did that say about how much he trusted her and supported her? Not much. She understood he was angry and upset, but that was no reason to do what he had. She had hoped that he would remember SHE was in charge of what happened to Jex, that it would be enough for him to pause and think about it, but he'd ignored all that, ignored her and her wishes, and did what HE had wanted to do. Was that how it was always going to be? That he would listen to her only to the point where he disagreed with her and then he'd go off and ignore her opinions?

If that was how it was going, then she would have to reconsider if she wanted to keep travelling with him. At Torchwood, even though Jack was technically the leader, he listened to all of them, he took in all their opinions because each of them had a knowledge that Jack didn't and he pooled all of it together in the choices that Torchwood made. The Doctor's words echoed back to her, a partnership, a team, they weren't going to be anything like that if he could so easily disregard her wishes, especially after giving HER the power to make the choices for the adventure.

She sighed and let out a breath, looking over to the side when she heard a small commotion that slowly grew louder as she saw some of the townspeople heading towards the jail from the saloon, all of them arguing and not looking at all like they were about to be peaceful any time soon.

"Brilliant," she murmured, before she turned and poked her head into the jail to where the Doctor was standing near the cell Jex was locked away in, the Ponds over by Isaac's desk, "Doctor…might need a bit of help out here."

The Doctor straightened at that and immediately stepped out after her, coming face to face with the small mob that had collected just outside the jail, "What's going on?"

"He in there?" the young man from the saloon asked, his voice shaking slightly, clearly nervous to be confronted by the new marshal, "Leave the keys and take a walk. Time you get back, this'll all be done."

"Are you being serious right now?" the Judge shook her head, "You're actually asking the lawman to take a wander so you can do exactly what he stopped doing before? You really think either of those things will work?"

"I promised Isaac I'd protect him," the Doctor agreed, "And the Judge here…put him on bail," he offered, not really knowing what other words he could use to describe it to the people.

"Protecting him got Isaac dead," the boy argued, "Tomorrow it's going to get us all dead."

"We thought Isaac was right to fight," one of the other men spoke, "But it's different now. We've got to say, 'Alright, we lost,' and give that thing what it wants."

"What it wants is to kill our friend!" the bartender countered.

"Look," the young man sighed, "We don't got ill feelin' toward the doc, we just thinkin' 'bout our families. Hand him over and we all safe again."

"That is not the law of this land," the Judge spoke up, "You don't hand someone over just to save your own lives, you hand them over because their law and your own demands it. You should be doing what is lawfully right, not what you think will save your backsides."

She was all for handing Jex over, but only on the conditions that he be returned to Kahler and stand trial, not for execution and not because people were scared. Anger and fear were the two emotions that caused the most trouble and the most rash decisions.

"You know I can't do that," the Doctor nodded, "We hand Jex over now, he'll be killed," he sighed and rubbed his head, "We could have negotiated with the Gunslinger before but…I…I made a mistake," he glanced at the Judge, "I acted rashly and for that I put all of you, including Jex in danger."

He held the Judge's eye for a moment longer, trying to convey his regret at what he'd done. She glanced away though, rubbing her hands on her thighs, now was not the time to get into their little spats, right now they had to focus on Jex and the Gunslinger and keeping the town safe.

"Then we got us a problem," the young man stated, shrugging the side of his jacket open to show them a gun in a holster on his hip.

The Doctor sighed, seeing that, he'd left the gun Isaac had as marshal in the jail, not wanting to use it, not even thinking of using it now that he was calm. Violence and duress should never be a reason to do anything, he shouldn't have used force against Jex, he should never have pulled a gun earlier, "You don't want to do this," he began.

"Why? Reckon I got the upper hand here," the boy pulled the gun out.

"It would appear that way yes," the Doctor nodded, "But this? Lynch mobs, the town turning against itself, this is everything Isaac didn't want," he eyed the boy a moment, "How old are you?"

"Nearly 19."

"You're just a baby," the Judge murmured as she frowned at the boy.

"18 then," the Doctor cleared his throat, taking a step towards the boy, knowing that calling a young man a 'baby' even in an innocent context and not a mocking one, was only going to make him want to prove himself more, "Too young to have fought in the war, so I'm guessing you've never shot anyone before, have you?"

The boy took that as a challenge and cocked it, "First time for everything."

"But that's how all this started," the Doctor pointed out, "Jex turned someone into a weapon. Now that same story is going to make you a killer too. Don't you see? Violence doesn't end violence, it extends it. I don't think you want to do this. I don't think you want to become that man."

"There's kids here," the boy spoke quietly now, the Doctor's words affecting him.

"I know, who I can save, if you'll let me."

The boy hesitated, "He really worth the risk?"

"I don't know," the Doctor answered honestly, "But _you_ are."

The boy sighed but lowered the gun and put it away as he turned to walk off, the men following behind him, the women waiting till the bartender turned and left as well.

The Doctor shuddered the moment the humans were far enough away, "Frightened people," he smiled at the Judge, "Give me a Dalek any day."

"No," the Judge shook her head.

"No?"

"You always were better at dealing with the people," she remarked, giving him a small smile.

It was true, on Gallifrey especially, he had always been better at dealing WITH people, interacting with them, talking to them, getting them to talk to him. He was more personable. For her, in her line of work, she was meant to be unbiased, unaffected, rigid and blind and focused on just the law and facts. She wasn't allowed to really connect to anyone in the courtroom, couldn't allow herself to feel for them. It was harder to turn off even after the court day ended, it would take time to come down from that, separate herself from her title to her name and return to being 'mother' to her children. The Doctor had always been closer to them for that, they were both close to their children in different ways.

"You were always best for the children like that," she added.

He smiled at that, would have beamed she was sure if he wasn't partially being modest about just how well he was with their children, "You were always the one they could rely on though."

And THAT was how they differed.

The Doctor had always been the one there to comfort them when they were ill, when they were hurt, when they needed a comforting ear or a hug. That was especially needed when they were children. But as they grew older, they appreciated their mother as well, she was the one that was always there for them, always on planet, never hard to contact, the one to listen and offer advice, to support them and be there. He had been off in the universe, traveling, but she had been the one to actually BE there in their later lives. Their children loved them both, they knew, loved them equally because they both offered different things to their children that helped balance them in the end. Both of them had been equally important parts of their children's lives both in their childhood and their adult lives.

"Thank you," she spoke softly, her smile growing just a little.

She had tried, with her children, to be a loving and good mother, but it hadn't been a secret to anyone that the Doctor had been better suited to them when they were growing up. He was more playful and engaging with them than she had been. Oh she played with them, she had fun times, she hugged them and was close to them, but the Doctor had always had that more innocent air with their children while she'd been the more mature and disciplined one. It had never really been spoken out loud, how they differed with their children, but to know that he thought she had been a good mother, it did mean the universe to her, just like she knew that he had needed to hear he was a good father as well.

The Doctor gave her a small nod to that and held out his hand to her. She looked down at it a moment, before she took it, the two of them walking back into the marshal's office, only for the Undertaker to hand the Doctor a small steaming cup, "Fresh coffee, marshall," he grinned, "For what it's worth, I know you're going to save us. Isaac made you marshall for a reason, and if you're good enough for him, you're good enough for me. Reckon you should know that."

"Thank you," he nodded, before turning to hand the coffee to the Judge, he'd noticed that she preferred coffee whereas he was more partial to tea.

"Thanks," she murmured, sipping the beverage.

The Doctor smiled at her, watching her a moment…till he felt someone touching his back and turned to see the Undertaker had begun to try and measure him for his funeral suit once more, "Oi! Get out of it!" he ushered the man away, out of the office, the Ponds still standing outside, talking quietly.

"Let me guess," Jex called, "The good folk of Mercy wanted me to take a little stroll into the desert. You could turn a blind eye. No one would blame you. You'd be a hero."

"Wrong," the Doctor countered, moving further into the room, "The Judge would blame me and I've lived with her long enough to know I do not want that," he gave her a small wink, letting her know he wasn't being hard on her, but was more jesting, "And I would certainly not be a hero to her if I did that. Happy wife, happy life, that's the phrase isn't it?"

"Seems a bit unfair," the Judge had to admit, "Can't quite think of something that rhymes with husband…"

"I think it's happy husband, happy home."

"Oh. Is it?"

"Yes, I think it originally comes from…wait, wait, wait," he shook his head, "Sorry, sorry, getting off track here, apologies," he turned to Jex, "My mind gets away from me quite a bit. What were we saying?"

"You could have handed him over, no one would blame you, being a hero…" the Judge offered.

"Yes, right," the Doctor pointed at her before pointing at Jex, "That's just the problem, isn't it? I can't. Because then Isaac's death would mean nothing. It would be just another casualty in your endless, bloody war," he frowned, watching as Jex just laid down and turned his back on them, "Do you want me to hand you over? Is that what you want? Do you even know?"

"Regardless of what you know or not," the Judge stepped beside the Doctor, "We are going to hold to the law. Whatever may happen with Tek tomorrow, we ARE going to return you to Kahler and you WILL stand trial for what you did to not just him but all the others."

"You think I'm unaffected by what I did?" Jex turned his head to look at them, glaring, "That I don't hear them screaming every time I close my eyes? It would be so much simpler if I was just one thing, wouldn't it? The mad scientist who made that killing machine, or the physician who has dedicated his life to serving this town. The fact that I'm both bewilders you."

"We are all made of many parts, Jex," the Judge shook her head, "It doesn't bewilder us in the slightest."

"We know exactly what you are," the Doctor agreed, "And we see this reformation for what it really is. You committed an atrocity and _chose_ this as your punishment. Don't get me wrong, good choice. Civilized hours, lots of adulation, nice weather. But, BUT, justice doesn't work like that."

"It is not up to the criminal how he serves out the punishment for his crime," the Judge nodded, "That is up to the laws of your people, much like on Earth, it is by the jury of your peers that will define your guilt and the courts of your world to assign your punishment for what you've done. THEY get to decide, on behalf of those you harmed, not yourself. At the very basest level, it is Tek, as the only one left alive from your decommissioning, that would be able to demand restitution and if he wanted your life, if you were from a less-civilized world, he would be completely justified in taking it. HE would get to choose your punishment, not YOU."

Jex eyed them both, well aware that they were well versed in the laws of his people but not sure what they knew of the customs and culture of them, "In my culture, we believe that when you die your spirit has to climb a mountain, carrying the souls of everyone you wronged in your lifetime. Imagine the weight I will have to lift. The monsters I created, the people they killed, Isaac. He was my friend," he stood up and walked to the bars, "Now his soul will be in my arms, too. Can you see now why I fear death?"

"I believe a human adage is fitting for this," the Judge remarked, "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time. You should have thought of the legalities you would face at the end of your experiments. The government of Kahler, no matter the desperation of the war, would never agree or sanction what you and your other partners did. Unlike on Earth, unlike America, there is no separation of church and state, your spiritual beliefs are very much a part of your governmental rulings. You chose to commit this desecration and this heinous crime against your own people Jex. You should have been prepared for the consequences, should have known that all those souls would be in your arms when you realized you were trying to build killing machines."

"I can see it in you," Jex murmured, "You want to hand me over, you want me to stand trial. There's no shame in that. But you won't hand me over to Tek to be killed. Whatever comes from tomorrow, there will never be an escape for me. We all carry our prisons with us. Mine is my past, yours is your morality."

"We all carry our prisons with us," the Doctor mocked quietly, "Ha."

~8~

The Judge stood in the marshal's office, the keys to Jex's cell in her hand as she waited for the plan to get underway. It was…not a plan she would have wished them to take part in, mostly because it involved getting civilians caught in the crossfires of whatever the Gunslinger was going to do. She wasn't a fan of that part, the only reason she'd asked Isaac for help in distracting the Gunslinger was because he was the marshal, he was used to dangerous situations and it was his duty to protect the town any way he could. This was different. But the Doctor had asked for volunteers and a few men HAD stepped forward. The plan was quite simple though. The Doctor and a few other men were going to run about with similar tattoos that Jex had painted on their faces, distracting the Gunslinger till Jex could escape back to his ship. The Doctor had managed to sneak out to the TARDIS later that night, now that the Gunslinger had stated they'd have till noon, to put a track on the ship from the sonic he'd used on it when he'd broken in the first time. Jex would HAVE to return to Kahler, for his trial, as they planned, or the TARDIS would track him down and force him back to the planet.

Jex would be heading home and, if they were lucky, the Gunslinger would follow him there and they could meet both and get a trial set up. At worst, the Gunslinger would be left on Earth and they could talk him down without Jex there to distract him, let him know that Jex was heading back to turn himself in and offer him a ride back to Kahler instead. They just had to get the plan in action.

She glanced at Amy who was staring out the door of the office, watching the center of town where the Doctor was waiting for the Gunslinger. A moment later the clock tower of the town rang for noon and they could hear an echo of what sounded like an electronic whir of air, a teleport, kicking in.

"Amy?" she called.

Amy nodded, "It's the Gunslinger, he's here," Amy glanced at her before focusing out the door once more, keeping tabs on what was happening for her, "They're facing each other down. They're getting ready to draw…" she winced as a piercing noise echoed, the Doctor's sonic, making the glass around him shatter.

"Amy!" the Judge shouted as the sound of the Gunslinger's weapon firing sounded.

"He's fine," Amy reassured her, "The Doctor got away, the Gunslinger's looking for him…and the men are rushing about," she turned to the Judge, "Now!"

The Judge quickly made her way to the jail, glancing at Jex as he stood on the other side, "Are you ready?" she asked, unlocking the cell as he nodded, "Be quick and be certain that we shall be keeping a track on you. You go to Kahler and turn yourself in, or we force you there as a criminal."

"Understood," Jex swallowed, taking a deep breath before he hurried out of the cell.

The Judge hurried after him, watching as he disappeared behind the jail while the Gunslinger's back was turned, knowing he was rushing along the backs of the buildings to try and make it out of the town. She looked down when she felt Amy take her hand and turned her gaze on the ginger woman beside her, only to see her attention was fixed on one particular man as he ducked under a blast from Jex, Rory.

"He'll be fine Amy," the Judge told her.

"You can promise that can you?" Amy muttered, not unkindly, not taking her eyes away from Rory though.

"He's survived this long, hasn't he?" the Judge tried her hand at levity, "He's come back to life more times than a Time Lord."

It was a lie, he really hadn't, but it seemed to have done the trick, Amy started to smile, her grip on the Judge's hand lightening slightly.

"And the Doctor'll be just fine too," Amy added when they saw the Doctor rush right out into the Gunslinger's line of fire, making the Judge tighten HER grip this time.

The Judge closed her eyes a moment, "At least this time he didn't purposefully make himself a target," she grumbled, before hurrying out of the office to go and help the Doctor.

"Where is he?" the Gunslinger was demanding.

"He's gone," the Doctor told him.

"WHERE?! ANSWER ME!"

"He's gone back to Kahler," the Judge called, reaching them, "He's gone to turn himself in."

"Yes, look up," the Doctor gestured to the sky, "Any second now you'll see the vapor trail of his ship. This is their home, not the backdrop for your revenge! Look up. Go after him, follow him back to Kahler and…" he winced, his words cut off as a squealing feedback echoed around them from the street lamps.

"Kahler-Tek," Jex called out, "Kahler-Tek."

"Jex..." the Gunslinger frowned, turning to look for the man, "Coward! Where are you?!"

"I'm in my ship."

"Jex, what are you doing?" the Doctor cut in, "Just GO!"

"Where are you from?" Jex ignored him, "Where on Kahler?"

"Now? You're asking him this NOW?!"

"You're one to talk dear," the Judge murmured to him, reaching out to take his arm, lightly tugging him back, this was truly not their fight to get in the middle of. They could try to help from a third party perspective, try to ensure Kahler justice was served, but they should not have gotten so directly in the middle of it.

"Gabrean," the Gunslinger answered.

"I know it," Jex sighed, "It's beautiful there. When this is over, will you go back?"

"How can I? I am a monster now."

"So am I."

"I will find you," the Gunslinger threatened, "No matter where you go between here and Kahler, if I have to tear this universe apart, I will find you."

"I don't doubt that," Jex muttered, "You'd chase me to another planet...and another race will be caught in the crossfire unless I go to Kahler."

"THEN FACE ME!" the Gunslinger shouted.

The Judge frowned at that, at how the Gunslinger was telling him to come back then. A pit started to form in her stomach, a frown forming on the Doctor's face, as they looked at each other, realizing something had just gone very wrong. Their thoughts were confirmed by the next statement over the speakers.

"Countdown to self-destruct resumed," a computerized voice stated.

"FACE ME!" the Gunslinger demanded.

"No," Jex called, "You've killed enough. I'm ending the war for you, too."

"What's going on?" the Doctor looked at the Gunslinger and then the street lamp, "That countdown! What's going ON! JEX!"

"Thank you," Jex cut in, "But I have to face the souls of those I wronged. Perhaps they will be kind."

"Three," the computer continued to count down, "Two. One. Zero."

The ground shook as an explosion went off in the distance, a mushroom cloud forming out of the dust, Jex had had his ship explode…with him in it.

"He behaved with honor at the end," the Gunslinger bowed his head, "Maybe more than me."

"No," the Judge shook her head, "He didn't," she looked at the Gunslinger as he frowned, "He did exactly what he'd been doing all this time. He chose to see how his own punishment played out, instead of allowing the law to do it from him. He prevented justice from being truly served."

The Doctor sighed and ran a hand through his hair, Jex had done it once again. Even though he had taken the end that the Gunslinger himself had prepared for him, it was still not up to either of them to really see to it that THAT sort of punishment was dealt. It was up to the courts and legal system on Kahler, not two individuals to decide. Jex hadn't faced his crimes, he hadn't been tried and charged and dealt with the evidence and seen what he would be in the eyes of the law. He'd chosen not to return to Kahler and face trial, he'd chosen his own path yet again. He glanced at the Gunslinger, "We could take you back to your world. You could help with the reconstruction."

But the Gunslinger shook his head and started to walk away, "I will walk into the desert and self-destruct."

"What like Jex?" the Judge frowned, "Kahler-Tek…you DID kill other Kahler as well."

The Doctor glanced at her but he could see the conflict in her eyes. Based on Kahler law, the Gunslinger wasn't seen as a Kahler any longer due to what Jex had done to him. He was, for lack of a better word, outside the scope of Kahler law. Even if he returned, it was more likely that the Gunslinger wouldn't be able to stand trial against Jex or the other scientists because he wasn't seen as one of them any longer, he couldn't be held accountable by the laws of Kahler. It was why, he realized, Jex had made the cyborgs, they could kill and operate outside the realm of the law without fearing being held to it. The Judge was right, at best the Gunslinger would have been considered evidence against Jex, it would have been them or the families of the cyborgs that would have been the ones filing the claim against Jex and the doctors.

Even though the Gunslinger had killed other Kahler, there was no way to have him face justice for that, even though what he'd sought from them was his own version of justice.

"I am a creature of war," the Gunslinger agreed, "I have no role to play during peace."

"Except maybe to protect it?" the Doctor offered, glancing at the Judge and then back to the Gunslinger when he saw the small smile on the Judge's face at that suggestion. Here, in Mercy, both Jex and the Gunslinger were considered men at the very least, here the Gunslinger could be part of the law, he could be seen as a person and not a monster or a piece of machinery. The Gunslinger seemed to be well aware of the laws of both Kahler and Earth, he understood what he was and what he was seen as. He might not be accepted on Kahler, but Earth, well, as Isaac had said, this was a land for second chances.

The Gunslinger might not be seen as part of the law on Kahler…but he could help keep the law here on Earth.

~8~

A short while later the Doctor burst out of the saloon with the Ponds following, the TARDIS having just been set down in the middle of the road by the Judge who stepped out of the box to the Doctor pointing at her and beaming, "Ok, so, our next trip," he clapped his hands and spun around to the Ponds, "You know all the monkeys and dogs they sent into space in the '50s and '60s? You'll never guess what really happened to them!"

"Erm...could we leave it a while?" Amy asked hesitantly, "Our friends will start noticing that we're ageing faster than them."

"Another time," the Doctor agreed, more quickly than the Judge had expected, "No worries," he said, more easily than the Judge thought he would as well.

He turned, clapping his hands, and she stepped aside to let the Ponds into the box while the Doctor and the young man faux drew on each other with their hands for a laugh. The young man tipped his hat to the Doctor, who returned the gesture with a small salute, before he took the Judge's hand and stepped into the TARDIS.

They paused at the door though, the Doctor not letting go of the Judge's hand and tugging her back to him, "I'm sorry," he told her quietly, not wanting the Ponds to overhear. He was married, yes, they were aware of that, yes, but…having tiny little spats with her was too domestic than he wanted others to see him being.

"For?" she shook her head slightly.

"This trip," he gave her a sad smile, "I…it took me longer than it should have, to realize why you were upset after…after Isaac. But I DID work it out," he took her other hand, "I never should have tried to hand Jex over."

"Because?" she tested, not entirely certain if he'd truly worked out why she was upset.

"Because I told you that YOUR decision would be the one we followed, and then I completely disregarded that," he sighed, "I told you that I would leave this to you, that I would support YOU, and then, just because I was cross, I ignored that, I broke that promise, and I nearly got us all killed because of it," he looked at her gently before raising his hand and touching her cheek, "And I'm sorry that I said you were wrong, for wanting to bring both Jex and Tek back to Kahler. That was wrong of ME, you…the law is what you DO, just like doctoring is what I do and…I never should have said that to you just because I was angry. That wasn't fair of me and it wasn't fair to say to you, because you were right," he smiled more, "You're always right. I've found women, in general, tend to be right."

"Well, we CAN change genders when we regenerate so…you can be right sometimes too," she joked, but she was smiling now and that was ALL he wanted.

He doubted she knew, but he HAD heard her thoughts while she'd been outside. She'd been so upset that she hadn't been guarding them that well, he'd heard everything and it just ate away at him. He'd worked it out, he HAD, but hearing it confirmed, hearing that she was considering leaving…he didn't want that, he wanted anything but that. And he just…he owed her an apology for it, he did.

"I AM sorry though," he repeated, dropping his hand from her face, "I gave you the command and then I took it back."

"I suppose I can understand why you did," she admitted, if just a little begrudgingly, "When we were on Gallifrey, we had to be a team, we had to make our decisions together. But…you went off and you travelled around space and time and for centuries it was just you, in charge, making decisions for everyone. This was YOUR TARDIS for centuries and it was you as the captain. It was just…you, alone, needing to be the one at command. But…" she hesitated a moment and touched his cheek this time, "You're not alone anymore. I'm here and…I'd like to STAY here, with you. But for that to happen…we have to be a partnership again."

"A team," he nodded.

"Yes," she lowered her hand to take his back, "We have to…to listen to each other and discuss our options and make decisions together again. I'm not just the Judge, I'm your wife, just like you're not just the Doctor but my husband, we need to talk to each other and listen to each other again. We can't be at odds at every turn and ignoring what the other wants. We need to compromise. It's the only way this will work."

"I know," he nodded again, "And I agree, from now on," he squeezed her hands, smiling, "All major decisions will be made together, and we both have to agree to it before we do anything. Ok?"

"Ok," she smiled, before looking down at their hands, she seemed to be considering them a moment before she let go of one and turned to walk towards the console, the Doctor grinning when she didn't let go of his other hand, the two of them walking to the Ponds, hand in hand.

A/N: Apologies for no chapter yesterday, my sister had 2 job interviews in New York and I was the only one off that could go with her. My parents are pretty overprotective (mostly with me, less with my brother but still pretty big on it with my sister too) and they prefer, especially for out of state things, that one of us goes with the other or that there's at least 1 other person with us for those trips. We left early and didn't get back till late and my phone died halfway through :(

But as for this chapter, aww, progress ;) I'm very excited for TPOT, we'll find out more about their children ;) I sort of wanted someone to comment on Jex and the self-destruct too, how he sort of did what he'd done before and chose his own end/payment instead of letting the law of his people see how he should make that payment. It wasn't honorable, in a way, it was him picking his own end instead of facing the consequences. He might face them in death, but the families of the cyborgs will never have true justice for their children or even likely know what happened to them now :(

Some notes on reviews...

It drives me a little crazy too :( It's one of those 'you live under our house, you live by our rules' things with them and...they HAVE kicked my brother out of the house before, literally went so far as to shove a duffel bag into his arms and tell him to pack up and get out, and I had to spend hours talking them down and make them change their mind and realize kicking a 14 year old boy out of the house was not good parenting. They tend to get emotional quickly and I've learned more than my siblings have in terms of what to say and not say and when to say/not say it. I learn the first time, they keep making the same mistakes so, because I'm the one that usually follows their rules and is careful about what I say, I set them off for the smaller things and I can't really risk being kicked out just yet :( I definitely look forward to the day I can move out :)

My parents admit to me a few times that they treat me differently than my siblings because I was their first child and their little girl -sigh- My brother is a boy, so he gets more freedom but he has a bigger attitude/temper. My sister is the baby and was named after my deceased grandmother so she's sort of the 'spoiled' one that gets away with murder. I'm the one that they expect to be the perfect child so when I step out of line or do something they don't like, they react more because of it -sigh- They flip flop a lot in what they expect of me so I never know 100% what'll set them off :( I'm glad you liked the chapter though :) I think the Doctor would have tried to keep the Judge back if he could, but he can't really argue with all the dangerous things HE's done in his time lol :) I can't wait for Spencer too, if nothing changes, we should see him about...2016 :) I liked Amy's character at first, but there were some things she did that sort of made me not quite as fond of her as I originally was, really small things though :)

I want a tablet SO badly! Sadly no money to buy one and it's way too expensive for me to ask for a holiday gift :( Thanks to my dad's midlife crisis/repeat midlife crisis/bankruptcy money is very tight and I don't like asking for anything more than $50 for a holiday gift. I think the last 3 years I asked for slippers one year, apple chapstick the next, and just this past year all I wanted was one of the cheap little iPod speaker thing that lets you play your iPod without earphones :) I'm very simple so I was hoping to save up enough from my paycheck to eventually buy a tablet or a laptop, hasn't quite worked out just yet :/ I'm glad you like the Judge/Doctor dynamic though :) I definitely wanted them to be very different, personality wise, but to really have worked at a deeper and more understanding relationship due to the circumstances of how they started :)

I'm more excited about 12 than nervous, I just really want to see what's coming for him :)

And a happy (belated) birthday to isnt-that-wizard! I hope you had a fantastically brilliant day! :)


	8. The Power of Three - Part 1

The Power of Three - Part 1

Amy and Rory Pond (Williams) ran out of their home one July morning, having been woken by Brian knocking on their door, to see that their street was literally covered in small black cubes. They were everywhere! On the streets and cars in windows and on ledges, scattered all about the park across the street, just every which way they could possibly look there were cubes, cubes, and more cubes. That, in one way, could have been normal…had it not been for the fact that ALL of it had just appeared overnight.

"What are they?" Rory frowned, reaching out to take one of the cubes from his father's hand, eyeing it as he turned it over in his hand.

"Nobody knows," Brian shrugged, "But they're everywhere."

"Well, where have they come from?" Amy stepped further out into the street, looking around to try and see if she might be able to spot a source, as slim as that might be, but then she spotted something else, "Wait…" she let out a sigh, spotting the Doctor sitting on top of the children's jungle gym, examining one of the cubes with a magnifying glass, the Judge standing at the base of it with a mobile phone to her ear, "Doctor! Judge!"

The Doctor looked back, over his shoulder to wave at them before he returned his attention down to the Judge, "Invasion of the very small cubes," he murmured, "That's new. What do you think dear?" he tossed the one in his hand down to her as she ended her call.

"Torchwood's going mad trying to find out what they are," she told him, holding the cube in one hand as she slipped her mobile into the pocket of her black jeans, staying away from the pockets of her purple plaid shirt. Her shirt pockets were bigger on the inside, but the jean pockets, she had remained firm, ought to be normal to at least give her some sort of pocket where she could actually find what she'd put there, "Jack hasn't seen anything like it before."

The Doctor nodded, Torchwood…wasn't quite what it used to be. Torchwood Three's base had been destroyed, much like Torchwood One's had been shut down and demolished. Jack and a few of his new recruits had moved to Torchwood Two's base, had refurbished it and set it up once more. They were more freelance now, not with any actual funding from any organization, unlike UNIT that was funded by the UN, Torchwood was largely operating on Jack's copious amounts of money that he'd stashed away and invested 'wisely,' and by wisely it meant using his knowledge of the future to pick the right companies to get into as they were starting. He had tried to be cross about that, that Jack shouldn't use his future knowledge to make a profit, something he'd told Martha once as well, but Jack was using the funds to support Torchwood only and not make any severe alterations in the timeline. And, as the Judge had pointed out, HE used his future knowledge to help others win the lottery many, MANY times so really he couldn't chastise Jack for that either.

Torchwood was smaller than before, some members lost, others moving on, but Jack was always watching, in the shadows, for any that might be optimal members for Torchwood and go to see if they want to join the team. Last he heard, Jack was rebuilding slowly but surely. It seemed that, from knowing the Judge and working with her, from seeing how her life and the immortality of the Time Lords went, he was adjusting better to the loss that came with the work in Torchwood. It hurt, it always hurt, when you lost someone close to you, but the Judge had always been sure to stay with Jack and help him mourn and accept what happened and not let it close him off to others.

He could admit…he was jealous of the captain, that he had gotten so much of the Judge's time and support when HE had lost people too though…even he knew that the way he lost people was different to how Jack had lost others. Before the war, he would always return to Gallifrey when he lost a companion to death, because he'd just…he'd needed her. He'd needed his wife, her love, her support, her shoulder to cry on and her arms to just hold him. And she was always there for him, the children always ready to sit around and hear the best tales of his late companion, the fun times and the good times. After the war…well, Rose was alive, Martha was alive, Donna (even though she'd forgotten him) was alive, the Ponds were still alive…Jack had lost his team too, he understood that Jack had needed someone with him more than HE had. But still, he did get a bit jealous that Jack had gotten so much of the Judge's time, had gotten to know so many of her different incarnations, had been able to be there for her when she regenerated.

Ironically, compared to how often she regenerated since the war, the Judge hated regenerating. She'd never wanted to, had been determined to make each body last as long as possible…but it just never worked. She'd been more bothered by it when their children were younger, she'd feared that, despite knowing that the woman who was their mother looked different, that they would feel differently for her, that they'd see her as a stranger instead of as mum. She didn't really like change, it was why she'd been comfortable on Gallifrey, staying there while he'd gone exploring, why she'd chosen law, something that was, for lack of a better word, set in stone and largely unchanging. He actually felt that…perhaps…he should thank Jack one day, for allowing the Judge to stay with him in Torchwood. It was as close as could get to dealing with aliens and adventure and danger on a near daily basis as one could get without a TARDIS. It was like the adventures he went on, just on Earth. It might have been just what she needed to be able to accept the numerous changes in scenery that came with TARDIS travel. To go from calm Gallifrey (he didn't like to think of her and what she had to have endured during the war while he'd been elsewhere on the planet), to adventure on Earth, to adventures in space, it was a transition and she was always the one that adapted slower than him.

He shook his head from his thoughts and clapped his hands, hopping off the jungle gym, "Come on," he nodded towards the Ponds' home, "We should go check the Ponds, make sure they're ok, and then see if any of the humans might have a clue about the cubes."

"Doubtful," she remarked dryly, "For all we know they'll think they're bombs or puzzle pieces or eggs or some rubbish like that."

The Doctor had to chuckle at that, they both doubted they were anything like that, but they couldn't be certain just yet.

~8~

"I told you," the Judge shook her head as she stood before the monitor of the TARDIS, looking at the new reports that the box was showing her about what the humans thought of the cubes, "Doubtful they'd have anything useful to say. Humans," she muttered under her breath, making the Ponds roll their eyes at her but not comment, more used to her less-than-impressed outlook on them by now.

"Well, to be fair," the Doctor remarked from where he was trying to examine one with the magnifying glass again, "We don't really have anything useful to add either," he glanced at her, setting down the glass and holding up the cube, "All absolutely identical. Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities…"

"What if they're bombs?" Brian cut in, holding two of them up, getting more and more excited as he spoke though, while the Doctor started to grin, the Judge was staring at him blankly, "Billions of tiny bombs. Or transport capsules, maybe, with a minirobot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs. Or messages needing decoding. Or they're all parts of a bigger whole. Jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together."

"I liked you more when we dealt with the dinosaurs," the Judge told him bluntly, "You were more in shock than now and sounded less…this," she gestured at him.

"This?" he frowned.

"Human."

"But I AM human," Brian shook his head, not quite grasping that she didn't really see the point in them just yet.

"Exactly," she nodded, "If humans stand around and don't talk, I might almost think you're Time Lords."

"You look human," Rory pointed out.

"We look Time Lord," Amy sighed, rolling her eyes again, recalling something the Doctor had said on the Starship UK, "Apparently they came first."

The Judge nodded at Amy for that one.

"At least he was thorough," the Doctor offered, turning a smile on the man, "Very, very thorough Brian. Well done. Stay here. Watch these," he handed Brian the cube he'd been holding, "Yell if anything happens," before turning to walk away towards the doors, the others following him as Brian moved to sit on the jump seat.

"Doctor, is this an alien invasion?" Amy asked, "Because that's what it feels like."

"It IS possible," the Judge admitted, "Though these are more likely the alien weapons or spies than the actual aliens."

"There couldn't be life forms in every cube, could there?" Rory asked.

"It would depend on what sort of life forms they are," the Judge explained, "What they breathe for air. There are no openings on the cubes so it can't be oxygen and it would have to have a supply to last them however long the cubes remain closed for. Our best guess, if it was something inside the cubes, would be that it was a robot of some sort waiting for activation."

"But that's the point, we'd have to guess," the Doctor sighed, "Because we don't know. And I really don't like not knowing," he pouted.

The Judge patted his arm, "Then do what you do best and find out dear."

He grinned at that darted out of the TARDIS, heading for the kitchen of the house, "Right, I need to use your kitchen as a lab…" he muttered, before starting to rummage around, pulling out pots and pans and other odds and ends, "Cook up some cubes, see what happens…"

"Right," Rory shook his head, "I'm due at work."

"What?" the Doctor paused and turned to Rory, the Judge crossing her arms and resting against the kitchen counter, really having no idea what sort of tests the Doctor was going to attempt on the cubes, "You've got a job?"

"You're spending too much time around humans Doctor," the Judge sighed, "You're starting to sound like them," he pouted at her for that remark about the 'stupid questions' she felt the humans tended to ask, "They live in a house, with electricity and water and have a refrigerator with groceries in it…they need money to pay for that. Unless they're robbing banks or selling alien wares to Torchwood and UNIT, they would HAVE to have jobs. WE had jobs on Gallifrey."

"What you did?" Amy looked at the Doctor, as though sounding surprised at that.

The Judge blinked, "Please tell me you don't actually think someone decided to name their child 'the Doctor.'"

"No, of course not," Amy laughed hesitantly, alerting them all to the fact that, at least at some point in her life she HAD actually considered that, "But what, really? You were really just a…a doctor and a…a judge?"

"Yes," the Judge nodded slowly, staring at Amy as though she were fearing for her mental abilities, "I would have thought that was obvious given our titles…"

"What job do you have?" the Doctor looked at Rory, still caught up on that.

"Didn't you say he was a nurse?" the Judge turned to him.

"I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick," Amy crossed her arms, "So…journalist and nurse, yes."

"But um, you don't…you don't have to call us Journalist and Nurse," Rory added quickly, "We're not…we don't go by titles here. Most of us anyway."

"I know," the Judge reminded him, "I have been on Earth for…a while Rory. I know you humans prefer names."

"Right," Rory flushed, having forgotten that, it was just…she didn't seem to really care for humans much, except those Torchwood people she'd worked with, he just wasn't sure how much she really retained about them, "Well, my shift starts in an hour. You don't know where my scrubs are?" he glanced at Amy, turning to head out of the room.

"In the lounge, where you left them," Amy sighed.

"Eh, the Ponds," the Doctor tried to wave off the awkwardness that had settled both from the discussion and the, well, domesticity of it all. It wasn't that it was awkward, not really it was just…well…he felt…jealous.

He was feeling that emotion a lot, wasn't he? Jealousy. It was just, seeing the Ponds, seeing them in their home and going about their days and preparing for work it just…it reminded him of Gallifrey. It reminded him of THEIR routine in preparing for the days. He'd always be running late, always wanting to sleep in just a little more. For how much energy he usually had, getting up in the mornings had always been a challenge. He'd rush about with his tie askew, his bag all a mess, his hair stuck up. And the Judge would always laugh and have a small breakfast sandwich set aside for him, she'd force him to stop and breathe, to eat while she fixed his tie and sorted his hair. She'd give him a gentle kiss when he finished and wish him a good day and he'd turn to leave, but always, just after he turned his back, he'd turn to her once more and kiss her longer, resting his forehead to her and wishing her a good day as well before he'd hurry out. He'd always find that he'd forget his lunch, he'd always intend to bring it, to make it, sometimes he would succeed in making it the night before, but he always forgot to bring it…and he'd find it in his bag, the Judge having snuck it in there with a small note about his absentmindedness or his tardiness or his rush. He remembered how he'd wake up in a mad dash and find a set of clothes laid out for him if he needed it and he'd take it, and how he'd always return home and, if he'd worked late for some reason, he'd always come home to food left for him for dinner. Somehow it was always warm when he got home, like the Judge would get up even if she had been asleep and heat it up for him before returning to sleep once more.

Seeing the Ponds being so domestic, it made him miss how he and the Judge had been. He loved the TARDIS, he did, he loved the adventure and danger, but…he would be lying if he didn't admit that he did miss having a stable home. It was like…the TARDIS had always been a treat, something he could do, fun he could have, but he always knew that he'd have a home to return to when he was finished. Now that home was gone and he…he missed it, more than he realized he ever had when it had been there. To know he could never return to that sense of domesticity, that stability, that routine, he did miss it. He was always moving, always running, so that he wouldn't have to think of the past and all that he'd lost, his planet, his home, his children and family and friends, his wife. He smiled slightly at that, a sad smile, he got her back, he had her back, but there was still so much he'd lost and so much he knew he'd never get back.

"With their house and their jobs and their everyday lives," he murmured, still a bit lost in thought, but he shook his head and looked at them, "The journalist and the nurse," he teased at Amy's glare for it, "Long way from Leadworth."

"We think it's been 10 years," Amy remarked, "Not for you or Earth, but for us. 10 years older, 10 years of you. On and off."

"Look at you now," he smiled at her, "All grown up."

The could-have-been-touching moment was broken by the sound of a door being kicked down and boots stomping as soldiers rushed into the house, swarmed the room, red caps on their heads, rifles in their hands, "Trap One," a soldier before them called into a radio, "Kitchen secured."

The Judge opened her mouth to ask what was going on and why they were being detained…when Rory was marched into the room, his scrubs on but only his top half, leaving his legs bare, "There are soldiers all over my house and I'm in my pants," Rory glared at the soldiers.

Amy, however, took a moment to appreciate the view, "My whole life, I've dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else."

"All these muscles," a slightly raspy, deep voice called from the hall, "And they still don't know how to knock," a moment later a woman, middle aged, short blonde hair with brown eyes, entered, her hands in the pockets of her tan jacket, "Sorry about the raucous entrance," she offered them an apologetic smile, "Spike in artron energy reading at this address. In the light of the last 24 hours, we had to check it out and, uh, the dogs do love a runout," she glanced at a nearby soldier before focusing on them once more, "Hello. Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at UNIT," she put a hand to her chest to introduce herself, "And, with dress sense like that..." she eyed the Doctor's bowtie before pulling a scanner from her pocket, holding it up to the Doctor's chest, "You must be the Doctor. I hoped it'd be you," she smiled, glancing at Amy and the Judge, "And you're Amelia Williams," she nodded, "I recognize you from our files," she glanced at the Judge, "So that must mean…" she held up the scanner to the Judge as well, seeing the dual hearts beating just as she had with the Doctor, "The Judge, I take it?"

"Yes," the Judge nodded, already aware that UNIT knew of her, Martha had worked for UNIT, she was sure she'd helped add to the files. And besides that, Torchwood had an agreement with UNIT, both facilities would pool and share information, send each other reports of aliens that had been dealt with.

"Tell me, since when did science run the military, Kate?" the Doctor wondered.

"Recently," the Judge remarked.

"Since me," Kate agreed, "UNIT's been adapting. Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which made it sound like more fun than it actually was."

"Has UNIT been able to find anything out about the cubes?" the Judge wondered, thinking of what Jack had said of Torchwood. They were trying many different ways of opening them and testing them, but it wasn't doing much save prove how solid the masses were.

"Far less than we need to," Kate answered honestly, "We've been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we've subjected them to temperatures of +/-200 degrees Celsius, simulated a water depth of 5 miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at 10,000 feet and rolled our best tank over it. Always intact."

"That's impressive," the Doctor murmured, "I don't want them to be impressive. I want them vulnerable, with a nice Achilles's heel."

"We don't know how they got here, what they're made of, or why they're here."

"Nor do we," the Judge sighed, rubbing her hands on her pants, not liking that at all. She didn't see what was so wonderful about humans, but that didn't mean she wanted them to be in danger and, even though they didn't know what the cubes were, there was still the threat that they COULD be dangerous.

"And all around the world, people are picking them up and taking them home," the Doctor added.

"Like iPads have dropped out of the sky," Kate nodded, "Taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within 3 hours, the cubes had 1,000 separate Twitter accounts."

"Twitter!" the Doctor grimaced at the mere thought of the site.

"So how are you planning to handle this then?" the Judge looked at Kate, "Do the humans even have a plan to deal with something like this? I would have hoped that, given the recent alien events they've become aware of, the humans would have been wise enough to try and get rid of them, not take them in like pet rocks."

"I've recommended we treat this as a hostile incursion," Kate had to agree there, she had hoped her fellow humans would have distrusted alien appearances more than this and deposited the cubes somewhere else, get them away from their homes and children, but it appeared not, "Gather them all up and lock them in a secure facility, but that would take massive international agreement and cooperation."

"We need evidence," the Doctor determined, "The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose. So what does that tell us?" he looked at the four of them.

"Maybe they wanted to be seen, noticed," Amy guessed.

"Well, more than that. They want to be observed. So we observe them. Stay with them, round the clock. Watch the cubes," he pulled one off the counter and tossed it up, "Day and night. Record absolutely everything about them. Team cube, in it together!" he cheered, kissing one of the cubes, before holding it up to the Judge to do the same as the Ponds and Kate headed out of the room, but he frowned, seeing her staring at the other cubes, a frown on her face, "What is it?"

The Judge glanced at him, "Just…something you said just now," she sighed, "You think the cubes want to be observed…what if it's the opposite? What if the cubes want to observe the humans? What if they're more…monitoring and spying, recording, gathering information, like a probe."

The Doctor blinked, he hadn't thought of that.

~8~

"I don't see why we ALL have to be watching one cube Doctor," the Judge remarked as she sat on the floor of the Pond lounge, her arms crossed on the edge of the coffee table that a cube was resting on, her chin on her arms, just staring at it, "Surely we could have taken different watches," she glanced over at the Doctor, sitting upside down in the middle of the sofa, with Amy and Rory on either side of him.

"Four days," he moaned, "Nothing!" he squirmed to sit up right, nicking the cube, not answering the Judge's question because she was right and he hadn't thought of that, "Nothing! Not a single change in any cube anywhere in the world," he sighed and placed it back down, plopping back onto the sofa too, "Four days! And I'm still in your lounge!"

"Me too," the Judge grumbled.

"You were the one who wanted to observe them," Amy pointed out.

"Yes, well," the Doctor floundered for an answer, "I thought they'd do something, didn't I? Not just sit there while everyone eats endless cereal!"

"You said we had to be patient," Rory recited as the Doctor jumped to his feet again and started to pace.

"Yes, you, _you!_ Not me! I hate being patient! Patience is for wimps!"

"Unless it's out daughter with a jigsaw puzzle," the Judge murmured.

The Doctor smiled softly at that reminder. He had given their daughter a jigsaw puzzle when she was very young, probably too young, and she had been so upset when she saw all the little pieces because she didn't think she could do it. So he'd sat with her and helped her and encouraged her. It had taken them a week on and off to get the puzzle done, had taken endless patience of not doing it for her but helping her do it, and she'd succeeded. He was a very impatient man, yes, more so now than before the war, but…for his family, he had endless reserves of it.

"That was then," he sighed, "I can't live like this now though. Don't make me," he looked at them all pleadingly, "I need to be busy."

More like he HAD to be busy. Sitting there with nothing but the cube (and Judge) to focus on…his mind was wandering to dangerous territory, to thoughts that brought up endless guilt and hurt and longing and he just…he couldn't sit there and think about it anymore. He tried to push it aside, but he just needed a distraction. Four days was too much and if he didn't move soon he was sure he and the Judge would end up talking (or shouting) about things that they weren't ready to discuss just yet.

"Fine!" Amy snapped, "Be busy! We'll watch the cubes!"

"Yes!" the Doctor cheered, dashing out of the house.

The Judge hardly blinked, "He'll be back in an hour."

~8~

And, just as the Judge said, an hour later would find the Doctor returned having spent the time kicking a football around, painting the back fence, mowing the lawn, fixing the car engine, vacuuming the house, among other chores. All the while the Ponds had barely moved from the sofa, watching the cube blankly, the Judge actually having fallen asleep she was so utterly bored watching the cube.

"That's better!" the Doctor shouted, throwing himself onto the sofa between the Ponds, startling the Judge awake, "Sorry dear," he winced at that as she glared at him and rubbed the side of her head in irritation at having been woken so abruptly, "Nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time. How long was I gone?"

"One hour," the Judge deadpanned.

The Doctor blinked at that before shaking his head, "I can't do it. No," he got up once more and hopped over the back of the sofa, heading for the TARDIS that was parked in the small area in the back of the room.

"Maybe we should have another child to calm you down," the Judge grumbled as she followed him, only to stop short as she realized exactly what she'd said. She hadn't meant to say that aloud, or to even say it at all, it was just the first thing her sleepy mind had gone to. He had always been calmer with the children, especially when they were very, very young. He'd had to be, overexcite them and they would NEVER go to bed on time. She hadn't meant it the way it sounded either, that the only reason they should have another child was to keep him calm, that wasn't a reason to have children.

It was too soon to even think about that. They'd only just found each other again, they still had loads of issues to resolve and needed to find a balance to them and their relationship once more. There was still dangers out there, enemies the Doctor had, the TARDIS was not a place to raise a family and there was just…there was too much going on to bring a child into that. She…she honestly wasn't even sure she wanted to have another child. It just…the war was so recent for her, yes it had been years ago to her, centuries for the Doctor, but it was still affecting HIM enormously. It felt too much like a betrayal of their children, to have another one when their children were lost to them. It felt too much like it would be a 'replacement' and nothing would EVER be able to replace their children in their hearts. Not ever.

No, the reasons for having or even considering having a child weren't right, not now. Possibly not ever, if she was being truly honest. They were married yes, but they'd had children already, they were different people now and…perhaps children weren't for them any longer. Perhaps they just weren't the right fit to be parents once more. She honestly didn't know, she didn't know if she ever would. It would take a long time for her and the Doctor to truly work out everything and even then, there was nothing to say that they would want children. It was one of those things where all they could do was wait and see what might happen.

Luckily though, the Doctor hadn't heard her, already moving towards the console…where Brian was still sitting, just staring at the cubes ahead of him.

"Brian!" the Doctor eyed him, "You're still here."

"You told me to watch the cubes," Brian said simply.

"Yes but that was four days ago Brian," the Judge remarked, moving next to the Doctor at the console.

"Oh!" Brian smiled, "Doesn't time fly when you're alone with your thoughts."

"And…none of your thoughts turned to food, sleep, or hygiene?" the Judge eyed him, humans were so strange.

Rory, though, seemed to think this was normal for his father, and rounded on the Doctor and Judge instead, "You can't just leave," he tried to argue.

"You can't really order us to stay," the Judge reminded him, not entirely sure if that was what he was actually doing or not.

"Course we can," the Doctor agreed, "Quick jaunt. Restore sanity. Ooh!" he snapped his fingers and pointed at the Ponds, "Come, if you like."

"They can't just go off like that," Brian mimicked his son.

"Can't they? Can't you?" he looked at the Ponds, "That's how it goes, isn't it?"

"Well, given that Rory couldn't help us test the cubes cos he had work…I'd assume they can't run off because of that?" the Judge gathered. There could be any number of reasons why they couldn't, "And I thought you were trying to wean them off of you," she added to the Doctor.

"I've got my job," Rory nodded, "And my job is important to me. What you do isn't all there is."

"I never said it was," the Doctor defended, "Alright, fine. We'll be back, soon. Monitor the cubes. Call us," he snapped his fingers at them as they turned to head to the doors, "I'll have the TARDIS set to every Earth newsfeed."

"If there's anything desperately wrong," the Judge offered, "Call UNIT, that number Kate left for you. They can contact Torchwood and Jack can get in touch with me if this one breaks the phone lines again," she nodded to the Doctor.

"I crossed the phone lines, not broke them," he grumbled, but the sentiment was the same.

The Ponds just gave a nod and stepped out of the TARDIS with Brian, leaving the two Time Lords alone. The Judge looked at the Doctor, a sad expression on his face, this was really the first time that the Ponds were choosing to stay and sounding like they really didn't want to go on the trip at all. They'd always had an excuse, needing to sort their marriage, needing to get Brian back, needing to not have their friends grow suspicious of them…but this time, this was their actual lives that they were choosing over travel in the TARDIS, this was the first real sign the Doctor was seeing that the Ponds were nearly done with the travelling. Because he'd looked at Amy for help, looked at Amy for reaffirmation that, if not for their jobs, they'd gladly come, but Amy had been silent.

She stepped over to the Doctor and put a hand on his arm. He looked over at her quickly, startled out of his thoughts and gave her a smile, placing a hand on hers a moment, before he turned and moved to the controls, the Judge joining him to get the TARDIS into time and space.

~8~

It only took the Time Lords 9 months to find themselves back in the Pond home…though it had really only been a week for them and 9 months for the Ponds. They'd hadn't really gotten many messages from earth, not from the Ponds or from Jack or Kate or anyone about a danger the cubes were being. It was like they were dormant, just waiting, but still, they had planned to return to the Ponds for their anniversary, just wanting to congratulate the two for making it another year, given that the first real adventure the Judge had had with the Ponds was when they were on the verge of a divorce. Marriage took effort and it had been the Judge's wish to return to wish them a happy one. The moment they touched down though the phonelines settled for that point in time and they were getting a message from Amy that everything was fine so far, 9 months later. She had said something about their lives slowing down, becoming more permanent and they'd just appeared with some flowers.

It had been a condition for the Doctor to come back when they did, though the Judge knew that seeing the Ponds for their anniversary would only remind him of their past anniversaries as well, that HE pick the gift they could give them. His gift had been to try and give the Ponds a romantic night at the Savoy Hotel, just after it opened in 1819…which had ended up being another dangerous adventure when they discovered Zygons hidden beneath it and trying to take over the human race. And then the Doctor had 'tried' to return the Ponds to their anniversary party…and gotten them lost in Henry VIII's time. That had been a mess when Amy had accidently gotten married to the king, but one good thing was that they'd finally managed to get Rory's recharger back so that was one less thing to worry about. After a few more mishaps in trying to get the Ponds home the Judge had taken the Doctor aside to talk to him about it all, he was a terrible pilot, but he wasn't THAT bad that it took them 7 weeks to get the Ponds back.

He'd revealed he just…he didn't want to let them go just yet, but she'd reminded him that it wasn't their choice whether the Ponds stayed with him or lived their lives on Earth. They had only come for one adventure and, though they weren't complaining, the Ponds DID want to go back and finish their anniversary. So the Doctor had managed to get them back to their home only a few minutes after they'd left, an attempt to prove that he could get them back in a reasonable time so that they could keep their commitments.

The Judge smiled as she watched the two humans cutting a small cake with their friends, the last event of the night, "Humans are so odd," she remarked, "Using cakes to commemorate events like this," she glanced at the Doctor for that.

He smiled, that was one difference between human and Time Lord customs, they didn't really use cakes much, and the way they commemorated their anniversaries and other important dates were a bit different than on Earth, "But it is their custom," he reminded.

**"**How long were they away?" a voice asked from beside them and they looked over to see Brian walking towards them.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Brian," the Doctor turned his chin up slightly, trying to appear innocent and slightly offended at the implication.

"Because they're wearing totally different clothes from earlier."

The Judge laughed slightly at that, "Sharper eyes than I'd have expected," she conceded, making Brian grin, over the last 9 months he'd finally worked out from Rory that the Judge didn't really exceptionally care for humans so to have impressed her, even slightly, was something, "7 weeks."

"I got sidetracked," the Doctor winced, "A lot."

Brian nodded at that, Amy had warned him that the Doctor was a rather bad pilot, but…there was something else that was bothering him, something that he didn't quite know how to express. He wouldn't have known, not had an idea at all, that Rory had gone off on an adventure, that he'd been gone so long if he hadn't seen the change of clothes and the barest hint of stubble on his son's face. How would he ever know, if Rory disappeared for five minutes, if he was ok? What if, in the five minutes that Rory was off somewhere with the Doctor, he got hurt. HE would never know! He'd have no idea that his son was in danger. It was just…he just needed to know that Rory WOULD be safe, no matter what, no matter how long (or short) he was gone for, he just wanted to be reassured that Rory would be ok.

"What happened to the other people who traveled with you?" he asked the Doctor, knowing that the Judge had only recently joined on. Amy had mentioned seeing pictures of other people who had travelled with the Doctor, had mentioned that the Judge used to work with a few of them, but…he wanted to KNOW.

"Uh, some left me, some got left behind," the Doctor struggle to speak, really not liking to think of all the ones he left behind, "And some, not many, but…" he sighed, "Some died," he put it out there, "Not them. Not them, Brian. Never them."

The Judge gave him a sad look for that, knowing that was the worst thing to promise anyone, especially a parent. Because they would never believe you, especially because if others died in the past, some would in the future. NO ONE could ever promise a parent that their child would be safe enough. She could still remember when they'd had to send their oldest child, their first son, off to school, to the Academy. The Doctor hadn't wanted to let him go, had been so afraid that the boy would be lost or lonely or struggle, that he'd trip down the stairs or get hurt in a lab and THEY wouldn't be there to help him and protect him.

To a parent, nothing was ever safe enough.

Brian nodded solemnly, his expression saying just that as he turned to look at his son and daughter-in-law once more, the two of them happy and laughing and smiling at their friends.

That was where they remained standing, in the doorway of the little Pond parlor, watching the goings on till the party had ended and Amy and Rory were cleaning up their backyard. The Doctor looked at the Judge, asking her silently with his eyes if what he wished to ask was ok with her.

She smiled and nodded, "Go ask," she told him.

He grinned and, without thinking, leaned in and kissed her forehead quickly, before he dashed off to Amy, "Can we...the Judge and I, can we stay here?" he asked the ginger woman, "With you. And Rory. For a bit. Keep an eye on the cubes. However long that takes."

Amy, from what the Judge could see, was trying her hardest not to smirk, "I thought it would drive you mad."

"No. No, no. I mean, I'll be better at it this time," he promised, "Judge will keep me calm, she's got plenty of practice in that," he looked up at the Judge and sent her a wink, before he glanced at Amy, "I...miss you."

Amy smiled at that, "I missed you too," she told him, nudging him as she softly added, "Moron."

~8~

Life with the Ponds was…interesting. The Time Lords remained mostly in the TARDIS that had been parked in the lounge area of the house, but they did interact with the Ponds. They had breakfast together, watched TV, had snacks, told stories. It was…an odd twist, the Judge had to think, as she sat on the sofa and watched the Doctor playing Wii Tennis. She knew that the Doctor had been thinking about the domesticity of it all, of the Ponds, had been reminiscing of their own lives on Gallifrey a short while ago. And she could admit that she did miss it as well, she missed the stability, the knowledge that they had a home to go back to, people and a planet and customs and understanding. She missed it so much but…she'd actually come to find that it was almost…too quiet with the Ponds. She had no idea when it had happened, how it had happened, especially considering she had always been the one of the two of them to like stability and quiet more, but…she actually didn't want to have this sort of life. At least not at the current moment.

Partially, she knew, it was because while human lives were as quiet and stable as they came, they weren't the same to Time Lords. Her life on Gallifrey couldn't be compared to a life on Earth no matter how many similarities there might be, it would never be the same. She didn't want an imitation life like that. Having the TARDIS staying on Earth helped, it gave her that sense of home but also of stability, but she was finding that she was starting to see the TARDIS more as a gateway than a true home. It was the place they went to get away, to reach new worlds and times, it wasn't meant to be parked in one place this long but…drifting. She truly didn't understand how it had happened but she found herself missing the adventures.

She was sure the Doctor would love that one, she knew, she just had to tell him that. He'd finally done it, he'd finally 'corrupted' her as he used to joke on Gallifrey. He'd always invite her to join him, whenever he came home, he always invited her to go with him, their children had been grown enough, she could take a break and join him, but she'd always said no. He'd always accepted that, that staying on Gallifrey was what made her happy, and he let her remain there, but he always left with the joke that one day he'd change her mind, one day he'd corrupt her and she'd want to see the Universe as much as he did. It seemed that day was approaching. She partially blamed Jack for that as well, life in Torchwood was anything but calm.

"Oh!" the Doctor cheered, pulling her attention back to him as he threw his hands up with the controller, jumping all over the sofas in joy as he won the set, "That's second set: Doctor! Ha ha! Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh?" he hopped down onto the ground, glancing at the Judge, wiggling his hips back and forth in preparation for the next set, "He'd probably ask for his shorts back," he laughed, winking at her before he focused on the TV once more.

"I can't quite imagine you in shorts," the Judge remarked, eyeing him.

"Can't say the same for you dear," he said instantly back, only to freeze a moment later and look at her with wide eyes, realizing what he'd said, "Not that…not that I imagine…I mean I just…I…" he pouted when he saw her starting to laugh at him, "Shut up."

The Judge's laughter did slowly fade out though, but not for the reason he though, not because he told her to, but more due to the fact that one of the cubes was hovering in the air just beside his head, "Doctor…" she slowly stood, "Back away…"

He frowned and glanced to the side where her gaze was fixed, nearly jumping back when he saw the cube there. He backed up slowly to her side though she was stepping closer as well, the two of them keeping their gazes locked on the cube as it just…hovered.

"Whatever you are," the Doctor began, "This planet, these people, are precious to me. To me and my wife here," he reached out and put his hand on the small of the Judge's back, slightly stepping closer to her unsure of what the cube would do now, "And we will defend them to our last breath."

The Judge frowned as the cube just kept…hovering, "Are you some sort of future-human invention?" she asked it, she could expect the humans to invent something so pointless that it just hung there and did nothing.

But, as though it could sense her thoughts, or perhaps because it found the comparison to humans insulting, the cube opened up to reveal the muzzle of a gun and fired at them. The Doctor pulled the Judge down, the two of them scrambling for the door, being nearer to it than the sofa or TARDIS, and ducked around either side of it. They glanced at each other and nodded when, after a moment of silence, the cube didn't follow, and peered around the edges to see that the cube was drifting in front of the TV and was flickering through the channels.

"Ooh, you really have woken up," the Doctor murmured.

"Doctor!" Rory shouted as he ran into the hall from the kitchen, "Hi. The cube in there, it just opened!"

"The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!" Amy cried as she hurried down the stairs from the upper level as well.

"Of course," the Judge sighed, "We get the one that fires laser bolts at us."

"And then decides to surf the net," the Doctor added, seeing that the images on the TV had changed from the television to the internet.

"You're never going to believe this!" Brian announced as he too rushed into the house, "My cube just moved. It rattled."

Rory groaned as his mobile rang and quickly answered, reminding the Judge that she should check in with Jack and see how Torchwood was doing, "Hello?" Rory answered, listening to the message, "Ok. I'm on my way," he looked at Amy as he ended the call, "I have to get to work. They need all the help they can get."

"Jack's not answering," the Judge looked at the Doctor.

"I'd assume Torchwood and UNIT are working on this dear," the Doctor tried to reassure her, stepping over to her and putting his hand on her back again, knowing she was worried for Jack and the others given that their cube had fired at them.

"Let me come help out," Brian stepped up to Rory as the boy grabbed his jacket.

"Take your dad to work night, brilliant!" Rory laughed, patting his father's shoulder, "Are you going to be alright here?" he looked at Amy.

Amy stepped closer and kissed him quickly, "Keep away from the cubes."

"That should be obvious," the Judge mumbled, but the Doctor nudged her slightly to keep her from speaking more loudly…only to stiffen and reach into his pocket, pulling out the psychic paper as Rory and Brian left.

"What is it?" the Judge asked, leaning over his arm to see the message he'd gotten on it.

"What are you grinning about?" Amy inquired as well, seeing the wide grin spreading on the Doctor's face.

"We're wanted at the Tower of London," he beamed, as though that were the best news he'd gotten all day, quickly turning and heading for the door where, the message said, a car was coming to pick them up, which was just as well, he didn't want to risk moving the TARDIS and attracting the attention of whatever was controlling the cubes.

~8~

"Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment," Kate got right to it the moment the three of them walked through the doors to the Tower, which was something the Judge greatly appreciated, that she wasn't wasting time and was focusing on the matter at hand.

"Now we're in business," the Doctor grinned and clapped his hands, "You sent me a message to my psychic paper. You know, I'm almost impressed."

"I'm not," the Judge had to shake her head, "I've seen the tech that UNIT and Torchwood have and share, it's not quite as hard as you'd think Doctor."

Amy, though, seemed the most impressed, "Secret base beneath the Tower?" she asked giddily, looking at Kate, "I hope we're not here because we know too much."

"Yes," Kate gave a small laugh, "I've got officers trained in beheading. Also, ravens of death."

Amy grinned as Kate walked away to lead them off, "I like her."

"Yeah," the Doctor laughed, taking the Judge's arm and linking it with his as they walked after the woman, following her towards a room with a mess of equipment and computers and cells within.

"There are 50 being monitored and more coming in all the time," Kate explained as they saw the cubes sitting on tables in the different booths and cells, some with people in it, others alone, all doing something different, "I don't know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity, some create mood swings."

"What's this one?" Amy pointed to a rather thick looking cell.

"Try the door," Kate sighed and Amy opened it…only to see one cube within was playing 'the Chicken Dance' at a rather loud level, "On a loop!" as all Kate had to say for Amy to quickly shut the door once more, "This…" Kate turned and led them to a large monitoring station in the back of the room, "Is the latest."

"They've breached the Pentagon?" the Judge blinked at the information there, "Why am I not surprised," she rubbed her head, "This is the Furby incident all over again."

Amy blinked this time and turned to her, "Furby?"

The Judge glanced at them, seeing the Doctor looked amused, "They refused to allow Furbies into the American governmental areas due to the fact it could record what was being said around it. They were innocent children's toys but the point stands…they've clearly taken the cubes into the areas instead."

"And not just America," the Doctor pointed out, "China, every African nation, the Middle East."

"I've got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them," Kate agreed, her voice turning desperate, "I'm lost, Doctor. We all are."

"Don't despair, Kate," the Doctor smiled at her, "Your dad never did," Kate gaped at him for that, for how he'd worked that out, "Kate Stewart. Heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop 'Lethbridge?'"

"I didn't want any favors," Kate stated, not denying she was the Brigadier's daughter, "Though he guided me, even to the end. 'Science leads,' he always told me, said he'd learnt that from an old friend."

"We don't let him down," the Doctor promised, "We don't let this planet down."

"What was that?" the Judge frowned as a small beep went off on the monitors.

"They've stopped," the male technician sitting before the screens answered, "The cubes. Across the world. They just shut down."

"Active for 47 minutes and then they just die?" Kate shook her head, that didn't make sense.

"I doubt they died," the Judge disagreed, "Deactivated perhaps?"

"But why?" Amy frowned.

"I don't know," the Doctor rubbed his head, "I don't know. I need to think. I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation!"

The Judge sighed as the Doctor turned and strode out of the room, Amy rushing after him, casting Kate an apologetic look for his terrible manners before moving after the two of them.

A/N: This episode was one of my least favorite for the series. I don't know why, I just feel like it wasn't quite...needed? If that was the right word. But that might just be my thoughts that the Christmas special would have been a good place to end for the Ponds and that Series 7 should have been a new companion for the whole series :/ I just feel like the back and forth with the Ponds and travelling only really hurt the Doctor more. Though it did make me understand why he just leaves his companions on Earth and doesn't look back, it hurts all parties in the end to keep coming back and living with trips like this :( I'm also sorry this was a little late, I ended up working an unexpected double today :( But I hope you liked the chapter :)

Apologies for the notes on reviews to come, I think the site is glitching because I have email alerts for some reviews that didn't show up on the actual story page, so if I answer one that doesn't seem complete to how someone reviewed, I'll try and answer more fully when the reviews show up, some might have gotten cut off as I'm using my email alerts instead this time ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Actually not the first 'you should go die' order I've gotten in a review lol, but clearly I am still here so they really don't affect me much. And I don't plan to go anywhere any time soon, I've got stories figured out through 2024 so you may have to wait about 10 years to try again. I'm sorry if you were trying to hurt me or make me feel bad for writing but I love it too much to give it up. I like to think that, with each story and constructive feedback, I'll be able to improve from a 'wannabe worthless bitch who destroys real books/shows' to an actual author one day. If you'd like to give up this story though, since you don't care for it and find it stupid, that's cool ;) I hope you find other stories on this site that you'll enjoy and that will be more worth your time :)

I can say the Judge's reaction to the Doctor's actions might surprise him more than her ;) The Judge wasn't allowed to be anywhere near the trials for the prior Doctors, more because she couldn't be a part of it (she'd be more biased because it was her husband and even if she wasn't others would think she was) and because she likely had friends in the court systems so her presence was completely unacceptable to be there :( We'll definitely see her opinion on the day he got sick before the end of this story no worries there ;) As for the children, we'll find out about them tomorrow ;)

I always felt so bad for Amy and Rory because of that. Like, in a way, I would have preferred them just be cut out, like do it quickly like a band-aid instead of drag it out even for 5 episodes of them back and forth and 'do we travel or don't we' :( I think it hurt the Doctor more to do that than to just put them on Earth and stay away :( I can't say what the Judge will do in Manhattan just yet, but I can say that the Doctor might have glossed over a lot of what happened with River, because he's always known that his wife was alive in terms of the time he's spent around River so all the attempts River made on him didn't mean anything to him because of that. He doesn't see anything in it because he knows he's married and won't do anything like that to hurt his wife so he doesn't really see the need to tell her every detail of River's flirting :) But we'll see more of River and the Judge's thoughts on River's attempts in Manhattan :) The Judge, at the point in time where she met River, had only met her once and, I think, until she's confronted with River again, wouldn't give much thought to the woman ;)

I can say we might see A River in WWTW2, but probably not Rose, just because it's the 11th incarnations :) But thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the stories so far ^-^

Oh the Judge and Clara will be interesting ;) But I can't say too much about it :) I think it was London that the met :) At the end of Crimson Horror, the kids find the picture of governess-Clara and say it's Victorian London, and Clara (thinking of the Crimson Horror) said she was in Victorian Yorkshire ;) But yup, they did, I think my brother has been on the verge of actually being kicked out (like literally packing a bag and calling friends for a place to stay) about 3 times :( It's calmed down a little more recently and he seems to be ain a good place in his life with a steady job and a girlfriend so I've got my fingers crossed that he'll find an apartment to move into and it'll be his choice to move out with a parting on good terms with my family sometime soon :)

That's awesome :) The Snowmen should be up on the 21st ;) I'll definitely wish you a happy birthday for it :)


	9. The Power of Three - Part 2

The Power of Three - Part 2

The Doctor was sitting on a wall overlooking the Thames, Amy and the Judge on either side of him, though he was sitting slightly closer to the Judge than Amy. He knew he'd overreacted in the monitoring room. It was just…Kate was the Brigadier's daughter, she'd been raised on so many stories about him, likely, and it was just…he didn't want to disappoint her, he hated disappointing people. He wanted to be able to walk in there, knowing exactly what was going on or able to give her an answer, he wanted to be the hero and live up to the image she might have of him because of her father. Oh he was sure the Brig would not leave out the details of ALL the times he had been wrong or an idiot or made a mistake, but to a child they were so easy to overlook. He just…he wanted to at least appear that he knew what was going on, to be able to help, and instead he'd just stood there with no idea at all, not even a guess for what was going on.

He knew that the cubes were likely observing them, just as the Judge had feared, but WHY? And why only look at them for such a short amount of time? Why be there for so long? Why choose NOW to do whatever it was they were doing? He wanted to know and a part of it was because he just, he didn't want to disappoint Kate. He knew he'd disappointed enough people in his life, his children, his wife, his people, he just…the humans always looked to him with hope and faith and he hated to let them down.

He looked over when he felt the Judge link her arm through his and lean on him just slightly, the way she was doing it making him lean slightly towards her as well, allowing them to lean on each other. He smiled, turning his head more to press a kiss to her temple, hesitating a moment just before he did so to give her the chance to pull back. He was encouraged to know that she was comfortable with at least that sort of intimacy between them. They had slowly been getting more used to being near each other, a hand hold here, a hand to the back there, it truly warmed his hearts to know that he could at least bestow a kiss to her hair or something like that now. He would be cautious with it though, he didn't want to do it too often and have her grow uncomfortable with it, he truly wanted to make this work and, as he'd promised her in Mercy, this was going to be a partnership again, with BOTH their feelings and thoughts taken into consideration, not just his own.

"The moment they arrived," he murmured, turning his gaze out to the Thames and sighing, "I should've made sure they were collected and burned. That is what I should've done."

"What we both should have done," the Judge agreed, "I should have told Jack to just start rounding them up and locking them away, he'd have found some way to do it."

He squeezed her arm, he knew she was worried about Jack and his team, the man hadn't picked up the phone just yet. He promised himself silently, when this was all dealt with, he'd take her to see Jack (and Jenny if she was still there, last he'd heard she wanted to go off on a bit of freelance work in the Universe) and make sure they were all alright. He had to believe that Jenny was off-world at the moment, he had to otherwise he wouldn't be able to focus on the cubes thinking his daughter was running around somewhere with them loose. He thought she'd gone by now though, last time the Judge had spoken to Jack, Jenny hadn't been there so he hoped that was what it was.

"How?" Amy scoffed, "Nobody would've listened."

"Especially not the humans," the Judge sighed at that, "You're so stubborn."

"Like you can talk," Amy muttered under her breath, granted she hadn't had much experience with the Judge outside of seeing her interacting with the Doctor and her comments here and there but if she was anything like the Doctor…well, she probably had to be worse than the Doctor to be able to put up with him for centuries of their marriage.

She felt a small discomfort form in her gut whenever she thought of that, not that he was married, no. Well, not in the sense that she was upset he was, no she'd moved on from him and she truly had chosen Rory. It was just…thinking of how she'd acted around him, thinking he wasn't married, that…shamed her. She felt guilty for that, even though he never let anything happen, she felt guilty for having tried to tempt him, for having gone after him when he was so obviously NOT going to reciprocate. She should have worked it out with River, that woman flirted and piled on the innuendo…and the Doctor hardly batted an eyelash at it, hardly reacted, was truly uninterested in returning the banter. Even more so, she felt incredibly guilty for what she'd done to Rory. It had been the night before her wedding and she'd tried to seduce another man. She was sure that was a guilt that she would have to live with the rest of her life, but she was determined to spend it proving to her husband that she was his and only his.

They fell into a silence then, just looking out at the Thames, but the Doctor noticed one very distinct difference. While he and the Judge were looking at the stars above it, Amy was looking at the buildings across from it, on Earth, "You're thinking of stopping, aren't you?" he asked Amy quietly, "You and Rory."

"No," Amy said quickly, a bit too quickly which she seemed to realize, "No, I mean, we haven't made a decision," she sighed.

"Which means you ARE thinking of doing it," the Judge pointed out, "You have to be thinking of it if you need to decide on it."

"Maybe," Amy admitted, "I don't know. _We_ don't know. Well, our lives have changed so much," she tried to explain, "There was a time, there were _years_, when I couldn't live without you," she chuckled softly, glancing at the Doctor more than the Judge, which she understood, "Um, when just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know, we've built a life. But I don't know if I can have both."

"Why?" the Doctor eyed her a moment, curious to what she thought.

"Because they pull at each other," Amy answered honestly, "Because they pull at me and because the traveling is starting to feel like running away."

"That's not what it is," the Doctor denied.

The Judge looked away at that, the Doctor not seeing it as he was focused on Amy. She had to admit, there were times, on Gallifrey, where she honestly HAD wondered if his travels around the universe were just that, him running away. She knew he hadn't wanted their marriage at first, neither had she, but their children, their lives, their…love, she'd thought that he'd been ok with it, happy even. And then he'd asked if he could leave, just for a bit, he'd said, to explore the universe, what he'd wanted to do before he'd taken his brother's place at the altar. She'd denied him that for so many years at first, because she'd feared it was that he wanted to run away from them, that it was his escape from their lives. There had been a few details that changed over the years, that had gotten her to finally allow it, but always in the back of her mind she'd wondered if a part of it had been him running away.

Amy was right in that sense, you couldn't have both, the two lives, they DID pull at each other, enormously so. The freedom of the TARDIS and the responsibility of your life wherever it was based, it was difficult to manage both. Even now, when she heard him deny that was what the TARDIS was to him, she still felt…doubt. She knew that he considered the TARDIS a home now, he had to, it was all he had left of Gallifrey. What she tried to bury in the back of her mind…was the question of WHEN the TARDIS had started to feel like a home to him. Had it been after the war? Or had it been before?

"Oh, come on," Amy rolled her eyes, nudging him, "Look at you. Four days in a lounge and you go crazy."

"It wasn't always like that," the Judge murmured, forcing her gaze back to the stars instead, not wanting the Doctor to hear her thoughts about that subject, of all the issues they might have to resolve…the TARDIS, his trips among the stars, was…well, the largest one she had and she knew it would be the one that they would truly likely come to verbal blows about. She wasn't ready for that confrontation, "There were days Amy, where you could hardly get him out of bed he'd want to lounge around all day."

"Wish I could have seen that," Amy laughed light.

"I'm not running away," the Doctor repeated, looking back and forth between the Judge and Amy, as though guessing at the Judge's thoughts, before he focused on Amy, "This is one corner of one country, in one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy, that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond and there is so much, _so much,_ to see, Amy. Because it goes so fast. I'm not running away from things. I'm running _to_ them, before they flare and fade forever."

The Judge smiled a small smile at that, put that way…she could understand why he'd run off to see the stars. But still, there was always that niggle. When had it become that? When had it become running TO something instead of away from another thing? Had it always been like that? Had it happened in the middle of his travels, to justify him being away from his family, his planet? Was it both? Running to something AND away from another?

She wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"It's alright," the Doctor continued, "Our lives won't run the same. They can't. One day, soon, maybe, you'll stop. I've known for a while."

"Then why do you keep coming back for us?" Amy shook her head.

"When Time Lords regenerate, Amy," the Judge offered, recalling what the Doctor had told her about the little Pond girl, how she'd been the first he'd seen, "We're more…partial to the first people we see. Like…how animals imprint on another when they're born, they form a bond with that person, a closer one than we might normally form when we become friends with another. You were the first one the Doctor saw after he regenerated, just like Jack was the first one I saw many times after I regenerated. It…" she trailed off, trying to think of the words to describe it, "It makes you more a part of our hearts, the beginning of our newest story. You're there from the beginning of us and something in us just wants you to be there for the end of us as well. It's why it's so hard to let go of the first ones we see after we regenerate. It's why the Doctor keeps coming back to you, it's why I keep in constant contact with Jack."

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, patting the Judge's hand as it gripped around his elbow, "I'm running to you and Rory, Amy," he told her, "Before you fade from me."

Amy gave him a small smile for that, "Don't be nice to me. I don't want you to be nice to me."

"Yeah, you do, Pond," he nudged her, "And you always get what you want," he looked out at the Thames again, before he straightened, a thought striking him, "They got what they wanted!"

"What?" Amy eyed him oddly but the Doctor was already rising, pulling an equally confused Judge to her feet, "Who did?"

"The cubes!" he cried, hurrying them back towards the Tower, "That's why they stopped. Come on!"

They'd barely managed to keep up with him as he nearly barreled into Kate at the end of the main hall of the Tower, "Kate!" he called, dashing to her, "Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical limits to your military response patterns. They made a complete assessment. The Judge was right, they were observing you and…" he stopped abruptly when the lights went out, "Problem with the power?" he glanced at her.

"Not possible," Kate pulled a torch from her pocket, always prepared, "We've got backups."

The Doctor pulled out the sonic and scanned it around, humming unhappily to himself before he headed further into the room, to the middle of the cells that held the cubes, pausing when he saw that all of them now had a bright '7' illuminated on the sides of them.

"Why do they all say '7?'" Amy frowned.

"7…" the Doctor murmured, "What's important about 7?" he looked at the Judge.

"It depends, 7 on earth or in the Universe?" she countered. It could mean on Earth, given that the cubes had come to Earth, but it could equally mean something different in the culture of whatever had sent it to Earth in the first place.

"7 wonders of the world," he began to list, just thinking of anything that had 7 in it, starting with Earth but planning to branch out, "7 streams of the River Ota. 7 sides of a cube…"

"A cube has 6 sides," Amy cut in.

You humans are so literal," the Judge shook her head, "What about the inSIDE of a cube?"

The Doctor pointed at her, only for his attention to be pulled to a cube just over her shoulder, the 7 was gone now, replaced by a 6, "It has to be a countdown."

"Not in minutes," Kate glanced at her watch.

"And therein lies the alien quality of it," the Judge reminded them, "Minutes to you, 60 seconds in one, could be seconds to another race."

"However long we have," the Doctor cut in, "We have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they'll do, if they hit zero," he turned to Kate, "Get the information out any way you can, news channels, web sites, radio, text messages. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous."

"Ok," Amy shook her head, "But why is it starting now? I mean, the cubes arrived _months_ ago. Why wait this long?"

"Because if something sticks around long enough," the Judge answered, "Eventually you learn to trust it."

The Doctor smiled at that, catching her eye, giving her a wink, knowing she wasn't just talking about the cubes but about the two of them as well. They'd had many issues at the start of their marriage, but once they started to trust each other, got used to each other being a constant presence and one not likely to leave any time soon, they'd had to adjust, they'd had to work with each other, expect the other to be there. They had to change their routines around the other and build a life with the other there. It was what the cubes had done, just put themselves in the middle of human life and make it so the humans expected them to be there, made them a part of their lives by choice.

"Yes," he murmured, "Allow people enough time to collect them, take them in to their homes, their lives. Humans, the great early adopters. And then wham!" he threw his hands up, "Profile every inch of Earth's existence."

"Discover how best to attack us," Kate breathed, horrified at the notion.

"Kate," the Judge turned to her, "Contact Torchwood and the governments, make sure you tell them about the cubes. Go," she turned the woman and gently urged her off.

"Right," the Doctor moved to the main monitoring station, "Every cube was activated. There must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale. There must be some trace. There can't not be," he glanced at the Judge and Amy, "We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities, ok?" they nodded and turned back to the monitoring, watching the screens of news reports on the cube activities.

The Judge let out a long breath at that though, she wasn't used to thinking in possibilities and variables, she was very rigid when it came to things like that, interpreting a situation. But the Doctor needed her help, so she could at least try.

~8~

It hadn't taken Kate nearly as long as they thought it would to get the word out, before they knew it the news channels were broadcasting that the governments wanted the cubes disposed of immediately. By then though, the cubes had counted down to 4.

The Doctor sighed as he looked into one of the chambers, empty save for a desk and a chair and a cube that had ticked down to 3 no, "Doctor, please, you don't have to do this," Amy came up beside him.

"She's right," Kate agreed, "You don't have to be in there. We can do this remotely."

"I've already discussed this with the Judge," he told both women, "And, frankly, she's the only one that gets a say in what I do or don't do."

The Judge gave him a soft smile for that. It was…actually more true than the women realized. He wasn't just talking about the fact that they had discussed being more of a team and talking about their options before making decisions, he was talking about Gallifrey as well. For married couples especially, things had to be even and fair. It was frowned upon for one side to take advantage of the other. It was why he hadn't been allowed to go gallivanting across the universe for centuries. He needed her permission and blessing to be able to 'leave' the family and she'd refused to give it. It would be the same if she had wanted to go off and do something, she would need his blessing as well. It was just…less so here on Earth now. They HAD discussed this rather insane plan of his, to go into the chamber and be there right when the cube hit 0. She hadn't liked it but he had reminded her that SHE had done the more dangerous task the last time they were with the Ponds, going off into the desert with just Isaac and trying to bait the Gunslinger, so it was HIS turn this time. She wasn't a fan of either of them putting themselves in a dangerous situation but, if it meant that he wouldn't be doing it 100% of the time, she could agree to 50% and put herself out there as well. He would take the cubes this time, but the next dangerous situation would be HER time. He hadn't quite liked that little deal, but she'd reminded him just as much as he didn't like her in danger, she didn't like HIM in danger and if insisted on things like this then that was the consequence he would have to live with.

He'd pouted, but given in.

"Besides, remotely isn't my style," he tweaked his bowtie, "See you after," and stepped into the cell, shutting the door firmly behind him and moving to sit at the table across from the cube, waiting and winking at them through the glass window.

They all watched, the three women to the side, as the number ticked down to 2, then to 1, and finally 0, before the numbers flickered off, leaving just the cube. They leaned forward, watching as the cube's top slid open.

"Geronimo," the Doctor grinned and got up to lean forward as well, peeking inside it.

"What's happening?" Kate asked him.

"Well, what's in there?" Amy called when the Doctor did nothing but fall back onto the chair with a frown.

"Doctor?"

"There is nothing in here," he huffed.

"Well, that's good?" Amy scrunched her face, not quite sure why he was upset about that…but then again this WAS the man who thought 'too normal' was a bad thing, "You know, it's not bombs, it's not aliens."

"It's alien," the Judge countered, "We know that, we just don't know what is in there. Remember the nanogenes Amy?" she glanced at the ginger girl, "Not all alien substances are visible."

"Great," Amy grimaced, hoping it wasn't nanogenes.

The Doctor stood, pulling the sonic out and flashing it around, "No sign of nanogenes," he offered in reassurance, but it just made his frown deeper, "Why? Why is there nothing inside? Why? It doesn't make any sense!" he turned and strode out of the cell, heading for the monitoring station, the technician at it watching street cameras and news reports, people just walking past the cubes, all of which were open, but there was nothing inside them coming out there either. Some people peeked in, but just shrugged and walked on, "Glasses," he put a hand on the technician's shoulder, the boy wearing glasses, "Is it the same? Is it the same all around the world?" he watched the feed change to show the same thing all over the world, nothing happening, "All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes, if they don't contain anything?"

"Doctor, look," Amy frowned, pointing to a monitor where a small group of people had fallen to the ground, clutching at their chests.

"They're CCTV feeds from across the world, showing the same," the technician mumbled, flicking through the feeds.

"People are dying!" Kate gasped seeing others rushing to help, all those already fallen right beside the cubes.

"No," the Doctor tried to disagree, but the evidence was right in front of him, "What? They can't be dying. How? How are they dying?"

"It looks like some sort of heart attack," the Judge leaned forward, looking at the monitors closely.

"The cubes brought people close together," the Doctor spoke quickly, trying to work out how the cubes opening could have caused something like what they were seeing, "They opened and…ah!" he suddenly fell backwards, onto a chair, clutching his own chest in pain, his hand clenching over his left heart.

He felt the breath leave him…but not out of shock for what was happening to him…but because he could see the Judge flinch, her own right hand coming up to rest on her left heart, nowhere near as affected as him, but clearly feeling something. But that…that shouldn't be possible! That should have faded given their time apart. It had been another one of the reasons he'd stayed away from her so long even when Gallifrey had been there!

"Doctor, what's the matter?" Amy hurried to his side.

But his gaze was fixed on the Judge, "_Carah,_" he called in Gallifreyan, "_Did you feel that?_" the Judge swallowed hard and turned to face him, nodding at that, "_You still feel…_" he shook his head in shock.

He should have expected it though.

A telepathic connection was formed between two Time Lords that spent an inordinate amount of time around one another, usually spouses. It mostly formed because a spouse was the one likely to trust the other with access to their own mind. Sometimes they formed between close work partners or siblings or very close friends, but a spouse, most often, tended to be the one to allow it to form completely, to allow their mind to be open as well and create a true connection instead of a sensitivity to the other's mind and thoughts. An emotional bond was formed between parents though. It began the day they conceived a child, slowly growing as the child that was a combination of them both and connected to the both of them grew in the womb. Upon birth, even when the child was delivered, the connection between parents remained. There were many species out there, he was sure the humans were one, where the women likely wished the men could experience the hell they did during childbirth, on Gallifrey they could. The emotions were so high, the culmination of it being their child, that he could feel everything his wife had, all the pain and strain. But after it was over, the emotional connection continued.

It was renewed every time a child was born, strengthening with each. They had had three children on Gallifrey, two boys and then one girl, all three had died on Gallifrey during the war. He knew it, he'd felt them die, as had the Judge. It was why she'd regenerated three times during the war. In the middle of battle, she'd felt her children die, it had distracted her, and each time they regenerated and been killed or merely been killed before regeneration, she'd ended up regenerating but living. He knew it was another reason for her to hate regeneration, because she'd been lucky to survive, and her children had died instead. They were on opposite ends of the planet, scattered all around, but the bond between a mother and child especially was strong, even more so given she'd been the one on Gallifrey with them after he'd departed to have his adventures. She'd felt them die and a part of her had died as well.

He knew he should have expected her to do what she could to keep the emotional bond between them going. It was literally her only way to know that he was still alive while he was offworld, she'd feel it, no matter where he was, if he died, but he had tried to let it fizzle. Tried to. He hadn't quite succeeded, he did feel what she felt but only when the emotion was strong, it was why he hadn't known she'd regenerated so much between seeing her again. He just…he'd thought if he tried to dim their bond then she would as well and she wouldn't be hurt if he was. They didn't physically feel what the other did, if he was shot she wouldn't experience the entirety of the pain, but she would know he'd been hurt. It was really only during the first few months after childbirth that the emotional bond was so strong.

On Gallifrey, they called it the Markings, the steps that were taken when two Time Lords wed. They called each other their husband or wife, but the steps that led up to being that were defined by the Three Markings. The first was the wedding, the union of two Time Lords. The second, the telepathic connection that was formed from the time spent with each other, the trust built between the couple. The third and final marking, the third sign of a successful marriage, was the emotional bond, created from their children, from the love and depth they felt for each other to create a child. Those who successful completed the Markings were defined as truly married. A marriage wasn't like on earth, it wasn't just the wedding ceremony, they weren't seen as married just because they said their vows. They had nothing to really show for it like the humans did. They didn't exchange rings, Gallifrey operated on a hand-fasting ceremony, the rope meaning to symbolize the entwining of two lives, the tying together of the mind and heart. It could be years on Gallifrey, decades even, before a married couple was officially designated as truly being married. They had to complete the three markings in order to be counted as wed. It wasn't just the wedding, it was everything from that point to when their first child was born.

He should have know she wouldn't give up the emotional connection though, she hated change and, after losing their children, he should have expected that she would cling to their own bond with everything she had. He wished he'd known that, he wouldn't have let himself get as hurt as he had in the past for the sake of sparing her the worry over him. He'd tried to diminish it slightly, it could be, with time and distance and effort, but he knew he hadn't fully let go of it, not now, not when he knew she was alive. He knew though, seeing that she still felt that bond, that he would have to stop trying to dim it and allow it to reassert itself, it wasn't fair to her to feel even a fraction of what happened to him and for him to try and push away what happened to her. Maybe if he hadn't, he'd have known she'd regenerated and gotten her away from Torchwood and spared her some regenerations.

"_I never stopped,_" the Judge murmured, giving him a pointed look.

"Doctor, what is it!?" Amy shouted when he cried out again, clutching his chest.

"Posters are logging a global surge in heart failure, cardiac arrest," the technician called.

"Oh thank god," the Judge breathed.

"What?!" Amy rounded on her.

"He's got two hearts Amy," the Judge reminded her, moving over to kneel before the Doctor, reaching out to place her hand on his, gently pulling it off his chest, "Only one isn't working."

"Yes but humans only have ONE!" Amy yelled.

"Really?" the Judge rolled her eyes, "I had absolutely no idea they did. Thank you for the anatomy lesson Mrs. Williams."

"Arg," the Doctor winced as another pain struck him, "Show me 10 seconds after the cubes opened," he ordered the technician, "Show me the patterns in their electrical current."

The Judge looked over her shoulder at the technician, seeing the readings he'd brought up and converted, a pulse going off, "Please tell me that's not what I think it is," she nearly groaned at the sight of it.

"No!" Kate gasped, her eyes wide.

"Yes, the power cut," the Doctor nodded, "They sucked the power and then…ahh!" he grimaced, trying to bring his hand up to his chest again but ending up putting the Judge's hand over his heart instead, "They're signal boxes! People…wham! Pure electrical surge out of the cube, targeted at the nearest human heart. The heart, an organ powered by electrical current, short-circuited. How to destroy a human? Go for the heart. Ow! Crikey Moses!" he winced again, hunching forward from the pain.

"Doctor, the scan you set running," Kate looked back at him, "The transmitter locations. It's found them."

"Bring it up then!" the Judge ordered and the technician did so, showing them an image of the earth with 7 small dots on it, strands of energy drifting from them and into a point in space, "7 points of entry, all activated within 7 minutes of each other."

"Why is that important?" the Doctor grunted, trying to think, but ended up letting out a pained cry, "How do you people manage one heart?" he asked the humans, "It is pitiful!"

"We need to get to one of those points," the Judge moved to help the Doctor stand, "If it's touched the Earth we can touch it right back, perhaps even get to its control center, yes?"

The Doctor nodded, "Where's the closest one?"

Amy gasped as the man zoomed in on the nearest location, "That's the hospital where Rory works."

"We need to go there, now!" the Doctor winced, trying to move, but the Judge held him firm.

"No..." she began.

"Oi!" Amy rounded on her, "My husband may be in danger!"

"And MINE IS," the Judge snapped back, "I meant to give me a moment to start his heart back up Amelia, that was all! 10 seconds, I think your husband can endure that long."

Without even waiting for Amy to rebut that, the Judge turned to the Doctor and straightened him slightly. She gave him a quick look, getting a nod in return, before she made a fist and hit it hard against his chest and then again on his back, making him gasp and let out a whoop as his heart started once more.

"Right, to the hospital!" he cheered, taking the Judge's hand and pulling her off, Amy rushing after him with Kate.

~8~

The Doctor walked briskly through the hospital, the Judge at his side, a relieved smile on her face as she read a text he saw was from Jack, that he and the team were ok and were currently trying to help the people around Torchwood Two, Amy and Kate behind them, "How many deaths have been recorded?" he called over his shoulder to Kate.

"We don't know," she answered, "We think it could be a third of the population."

"Right," he spun around to face her, "Kate, we have to find the wormhole. But the attacks could still happen. Tell the world. Tell them how to deal this. The world needs your leadership right now."

"I'll do my best," Kate straightened.

"Yeah, of course you will," he winked at her, "Good luck Kate," he pulled out the sonic as Kate turned and headed off, flashing it around to scan the area, "I need to locate the wormhole portal. Hello. Hello!" he stopped when it started beeping quickly around a young girl standing a few feet away, staring blankly ahead and standing rather stiffly, "Hello," he walked over to her, eyeing her closely, "You are giving off some very strange signals…" he brought the sonic closer, making the girl's face and eyes glow blue.

"Oh, my God," Amy gasped.

"Some sort of robot," the Judge squinted at the girl, "Probably another probe. But more advanced."

The Doctor nodded, "If I shut her down, I can…" he aimed the sonic at the girl's neck, catching her as she fell, he and the Judge lowering her to the ground as she shut off. He stood up and scanned the droid with the sonic, grinning when he caught a trace, "Bingo," he held out a hand to the Judge, helping her up and hurrying off with her and Amy, leading them through the halls of the hospital till they reached an empty hall, a goods lift at the end, the sonic beeping more the closer they got to it.

"Oh," Amy frowned, disappointed when the doors opened and there was nothing but a normal lift inside, "Portal to another dimension in a goods lift?"

"The energy signals converge here," the Doctor shook his head, finishing the scan and placing the sonic back into his pocket, "Does seem a bit cramped, though."

"Well a portal around humans would have to be small and unassuming," the Judge remarked, "I'm sure even the humans would realize that something was off if there was a swirling vortex appearing in the middle of a hospital."

Amy rolled her eyes at that but followed the two Time Lords into the lift, the two moving to feel the walls, trying to find the portal, when the back wall wibbled as the Doctor poked it.

"Through the looking glass, ladies?" the Doctor smiled at them before stepping through the wibbling wall, the Judge and Amy following him through the wall and into a rather large, dark room beyond. It was clearly an alien craft that they had entered just judging by the architecture of it all.

It was a wide room, circular, with large windows through which they could see the earth with a gentle haze around it, "Where are we?" Amy asked as they slowly stepped toward the circular room.

"We're in orbit," the Doctor answered, "One dimension to the left."

Amy shook her head and looked to the room, gasping when she saw that there were tables, like examination tables, set up around the room, men and women lying on it, Rory on one of them with Brian beside him on a gurney, "Rory!" she rushed over to him.

"Seborean smelling salts," the Doctor tossed her a small vial, moving to help the Judge look at Brian.

"Doctor!" the Judge gave him an outraged look, "Those are outlawed in seven galaxies! They're completely contraband!"

He gave her a sheepish smile, "Would it help if I said I acquired them before they were outlawed?"

She narrowed her eyes at that, holding out a hand as Rory gasped awake, "Amy, the salts."

Amy didn't even hesitate to give the woman the salts, there was a rather commanding tone in her voice, like a mother instructing her child to hand over something they'd stolen. The second that she got her hands on it, the Judge threw it across the room and pointed warningly at the Doctor, clearly saying that if he went to try and retrieve them, she would tackle him.

Not that the Doctor did try to retrieve them, though it had little to do with her silent threat and more to do with the fact that a round of laser bolts started to shoot at them from all around them, "Whoa!" the Doctor ducked down, Rory rolling off his small table to duck below with Amy, "Whoa! What kind of a welcome do you call that?"

"What are you two still doing here?" the Judge looked over at Amy and Rory, "Get Brian and get out!"

"What are you going to do?!" Amy asked as Rory moved to get his father.

"Absolutely no idea," the Doctor stated.

"Just get him back to the hospital and wake him up!" the Judge urged, Rory grabbing Amy's hand to pull her out of the room with the gurney and his father.

The moment that the humans were out of the room, the shots died down and there was a flicker in the middle of the room. The Time Lords looked over to see a pale man, with a dry cracked face, bald, wearing a long black cloak, standing there.

"So many of them, crawling the planet, seeping into every corner," the man grimaced, disappearing in a flash and appearing by a monitor of what looked like honeycomb shaped monitors all attached to each other.

The Time Lords glanced at each other, slowly rising and moving closer to the monitors, eyeing the man and the information on the screens in curiosity and alarm.

"Please tell me he's not one of the Shakri," the Judge whispered to the Doctor, not taking her eyes off of the man, the hologram of the man, before them, "They're a myth!"

"The Shakri exist in all of time and none," the hologram spoke, "We travel alone and together. The Seven."

"The Shakri craft," the Doctor spun around slowly, observing the room, before focusing on the hologram once more, "Connected to Earth through 7 portals in 7 minutes. Ah, but why?"

"Serving the word of the Tally."

"Yes, but I think he meant why EARTH," the Judge corrected, "And why attack via cube?"

"Not Earth, Humanity. The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread."

The Doctor let out a breath, working out what the hologram meant, "Erase humanity before it colonizes space," he eyed the image before them, "We thought the cubes were an invasion, the start of war."

"The human contagion only! Must be eliminated."

"Who are you calling a contagion?" Amy's voice demanded as she and Rory strode back into the room.

"We told you to get out!" the Judge rolled her eyes at them, "Not come back," she gave the Doctor a disapproving look, "You need to find a companion that will actually listen to you, you know."

"Yes, I know," he rubbed the side of his face, "Haven't managed to find one yet…"

"Thanks," Amy rolled her eyes at that, "But what's going on? What is this 'Tally,' anyway?"

"Some people call it 'Judgment Day' or 'the Reckoning.'"

"Don't you know?"

"I've never wanted to find out," the Doctor admitted.

"I thought it was a myth," the Judge offered when Amy looked at her as well.

"Before the Closure, there is the Tally," the Shakri image stated, "The Shakri serves the Tally!"

"The pest controllers of the universe," the Doctor sighed, "That's how the tales went, isn't it?"

"Wow, that's a seriously weird bedtime story," Amy mumbled.

"No more weird than some of the ones you humans tell," the Judge countered, "Do you seriously tell your children stories about a wolf eating an old woman and then having its stomach cut open?"

"So!" the Doctor cut in, clapping his hands to prevent an argument, "Here you are," he gestured at the Shakri image, "Depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside. Because that's what _they_ are. Not pests or plague, creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does, but…_but_…they learn. And they strive for greater and they achieve it. You want a tally? Put their achievements against their failings, through the whole of time. I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."

"While I do love your little speeches dear," the Judge remarked, crossing her arms, "They do get a bit long winded. Someone could do something while you're talking and you'd probably not even notice."

As though agreeing with the Judge's assessment, the Sharki spoke again, "The Tally must be met. The second wave will be released!" it hit one final button on the keypad before it, having been typing that entire time the Doctor was speaking, clearly not moved or distracted at all by his words, though it appeared the Doctor had distracted himself.

"What does that mean?" Amy tensed.

"The first wave was what hit earth with the first pulse," the Judge told her, "It's preparing another one."

"The human plague, breeding and fighting," the Shakri nearly spat, "And, when cornered, their rage to destroy. You're too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met."

Amy blinked as the man disappeared, "He's gone?"

"He was never really here," the Doctor sighed, "Just the ship's automated interface. Like a talking propaganda poster," he quickly moved to the computer where the Shakri had been standing and looked at the controls, "I can stop the second wave," he smiled, relieved to see that, and quickly soniced the computer, "I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the dark space. Ah, but all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them will have died."

"Defibrillation," the Judge offered, making the Doctor look at her, "I've had to restart Jack's heart a time or two, can't we reverse the pulse and instead of stopping hearts, make them restart?"

"Brilliant!" he pointed at her, starting to put the command into the computer, grinning when he saw his commands coming through, "30 seconds. Don't let me down, cubes. You're working for me, now," his grin did start to fall when, after the command went through, a blinking warning began to go off on the monitor, the ship shaking in time with it, "Oh, dear. All those cubes. There's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here, any second. Run!" he grabbed the Judge's hand and turned to race from the room, the Ponds right behind him.

They reached the wall they'd appeared through and threw themselves through it, landing in the goods' lift which shook a moment later as the Shakri ship exploded.

"I'm going to miss this," Rory remarked as the humans started laughing, the Doctor smiling at that sadly while the Judge just shook her head.

She would never understand humans.

~8~

The Judge looked up from where she was sitting in a black car, waiting for the Doctor to get in, he was saying goodbye to Kate at the Tower while she was finishing a call with Jack. The team was just fine, they hadn't been anywhere near the cubes when they'd gone off the first time, had been able to help quite a few people restart their hearts in the process. Everything was fine with them though and Jack reassured her not to worry…which never really worked, she always would.

She looked up when the door opened and the Doctor slid in beside her, the driver taking off, ready to bring them back to the Ponds and the TARDIS.

"So…" the Doctor began after a moment, "You still have the emotional bond?" he glanced at her.

She let out a long breath and nodded, "It was the only way I could tell that you were ok, or that you'd be ok," she gave him a look, "You didn't exactly make it easy to just let you run off when it felt like the only times you came back was after someone died or after YOU died. I just…wanted to be prepared."

He nodded, glancing down at her hand lying on her lap, both her hands flat against her thighs and reached out to take her hand, entwining his fingers with hers and resting the back of his hand on her leg to do so, "I'm sorry," he offered her, "You probably guessed that I…I tried to block it a bit."

"You were rather surprised whenever you saw a new me," she gave him a small smile for it, aware of what he'd tried to do.

"I didn't know you'd kept your half open," he told her, "I thought if I didn't then you wouldn't either."

"There are many, MANY things that you do that I don't Doctor," she reminded him, "Things you don't do that I do. Something like this isn't something I'd follow your lead on, it's too…it's too important to me," she took a breath a moment, "I think it might have been a little why I didn't know how to act around you at first," she admitted, "I knew you'd been suppressing it and I wasn't sure why. I wasn't sure how to act because I wasn't sure what I should feel, because I didn't know what YOU wanted to feel."

"I want to feel YOU," he spoke quietly after a short silence, "I was scared," he ran a hand through his hair, "I was scared that I would feel…that you didn't want to be around me, that…that you didn't want to be with me. You staying in Torchwood didn't exactly help," he pointed out as well, they had both made mistakes when it came to their actions and the bond they shared, the way they handled it, "I didn't want to feel you pulling away from me, so I just…tried not to feel it at all."

The Judge nodded slowly at that, "The emotional bond will always be there," she began, "But…it's not the only bond we shared or will share. We need to work a bit more on this," she gestured between them, "On actually talking to each other. Emotions and thoughts are wonderful, being able to sense them is great, but talking…there's something lost in the translation of emotions and thoughts and I think we need to make sure we're honest with each other. I know there'll be things we'll hide from each other, but I think…if we can promise that, eventually, we WILL talk about it, that…communication would be best. We need to actually TALK instead of just rely on our senses."

"I agree," he smiled at her, "I miss talking to you Carah," he murmured, "I miss how open we were with each other in the end. I know it'll take time too, to feel that comfortable around each other again, but I do want to work towards it. I want this to work, US to work."

"Then we will," she squeezed his hand, moving hers slightly so it was less just on her lap and resting, equally between them on the seat, making him smile more as they both turned to look out their respective windows at the scenery passing them, both feeling like they'd bridged another gap that had grown between them.

~8~

The Judge was sitting beside the Doctor, across from the Ponds, with Brian at the end of their kitchen table, staring at the sticks in her hand as though they were a deadly enemy. They were eating Chinese food, or the others were, the Judge was more glaring at the wooden chopsticks like they had done her a great travesty. She hadn't quite managed to get the hang of them. Jack loved to order Chinese food just to 'encourage' her to try the chopsticks again and 'help' her get the hang of it and it never worked. She didn't understand how an entire people could survive off eating with two sticks, but somehow they'd done it.

"Mmm, dear me," the Doctor swallowed the last of his food and set his bowl down, "We'd better get going," he glanced at the Judge, seeing her glare growing more murderous and actually fearing for the chopsticks, "Things to do. Worlds to save, swings to...swing on," he reached out and took the sticks from her, gently setting them down along with the carton of food, before he took her hand and stood, heading for the door as the Ponds fell quiet. The Judge slowed though and gave him a meaningful look, nodding her head towards the Ponds. He smiled at her for that and glanced at them, "Look," he called, making Rory and Amy turn in their seats, "I know, you both have lives here, beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don't want to give them up. I understand."

"Actually, it's you they can't give up, Doctor," Brian offered, looking to his son and giving him a smile, "And I don't think they should. Go with him. Go save every world you can find. Who else has that chance? Life will still be here."

This time the Doctor gave the Judge a meaningful look and nodded his head towards Brian.

"If you want to come too Brian…" the Judge left it open for him.

But Brian shook his head, "Somebody's got to water the plants. Just bring them back safe."

Rory and Amy beamed, leaning over to say goodbye to Brian before heading to the TARDIS with the Time Lords. Brian got up and stepped out after them, watching them gather at the door, his family waving goodbye, before they all stepped in, the box disappearing before his eyes, taking the Williams, the Doctor, and the Judge with it.

A/N: I sort of wanted someone to just do the same thing that Martha did to the Doctor dealing with the Lilith, like they both ended in one of the Doctor's hearts stopping and so why not try the same method :) But we know more about the children! 2 boys and 1 girl :) ...but they're all dead :( ...or are they? }:) Is it possible, in the middle of war, that the Judge misread what she was feeling? We'll have to wait and see what happens if Gallifrey ever returns. Till then, the children are, for all intents and purposes, deceased :'(

I can say, the little thoughts that the Judge has about the TARDIS and the Doctor's travels will pop up again }:)

Some notes on reviews...

Aww thanks :) I try to keep in mind that the Doctor is an alien and try to make each story unique in terms of his past and his life on Gallifrey so it's great to know I'm managing it :) I can say that we'll see them get more loving as it goes on and...there may be a key point near the start and end of the second half of Series 7 that will see a breakthrough for them ;)

I always try to just be kind and polite when responding to flames :) I think, most times, they just want a fight or a rise out of the author and I've learned that just being nice back to them tends to take that edge off and allow all parties to move on :) I'm really glad you're enjoying the stories ^-^ As for Angel, we may see her having a bit more work to do keeping him from going dark, but that means, to me, plenty of fluff and touching moments to come ;) Lol, sorry about the Time Babies tease there, we'll have to see how it goes, I don't want to do too many stories where they all end up with babies so this might be one of the sort where, they've already had children, there won't be new children, but it will depend how all my other stories go :)

I can say that the exile in London may be a bit different than in the episode, but I don't want to say too much more about how ;) I think the Judge though, will be ok with Vastra, she seems very sensible, logical, and 'alien' enough for the Judge to think her someone worth talking to lol :) I see a tiny bit of Vastra defending Jenny though ;)


	10. The Angels Take Manhattan - Part 1

The Angels Take Manhattan - Part 1

It wasn't the Judge's first time travelling to New York City, she had gone once or twice with Jack in the past, some odd business here and there with Torchwood, but it was her first time being there for a 'vacation' or at least as near a vacation as it could get when travelling with the Doctor. He seemed to be trying to keep the running and danger to a minimum for the Ponds' sake. He HAD promised Brian that he would keep them both safe and this time he did intend that, when he finally returned them home, it would be for the last time, whenever that might be. He just…he wanted to have a few 'normal' trips with them, peaceful, ones that they could build real memories on instead of leaving it to them running about and emotions flying high. He wanted a few calm memories of them to keep in his hearts. The Judge wasn't complaining, for as much as she was truly trying to get used to all the rushing about and danger and adrenaline, she really was more used to a calm sort of life than this. The war being the exception. It was good to be able to just relax every so often.

She was thinking of implementing a mandatory 'rest day' where, at least once a month, the Doctor would be forced to go somewhere quiet and restful just to relax. Oh she was sure that he'd go stark raving mad trying to keep that up, but the companions would likely appreciate it and she was sure she'd be able to find ways to help him relax. She did have centuries experience dealing with him after all.

"…New York growled at my window," the Doctor murmured quietly, making her look back at him as he read a small paperback book.

They were currently in the middle of Central Park, New York, sitting on a large rock that they were using for their small picnic, resting next to a large pond with ducks swimming in it. Rory was sitting back, lying on the ground just soaking up the sun while the Doctor and Amy were sitting back to back, Amy working on a word search while the Doctor read his book. She was off to the side, on the edge of the rock, her knees curled up to her chest as she tossed small bits of food to the ducks that swam past, making sure it was safe food for them to eat, the arms of her purple plaid shirt folded up to her elbows.

"But I was ready for it," the Doctor continued to read, unable to see Amy rolling her eyes and growing more annoyed behind him, "My stocking seams were straight, my lipstick was combat-ready, and I was packing cleavage that could fell an ox at 20 feet…"

"Doctor, you're doing it again," Amy cut him off, lowering her own book in frustration.

"I'm reading!" he defended.

"Out loud," Amy grumbled, "Please, could you not?"

The Doctor pouted and turned around to mock-glare at Amy, Amy moving to the side to give him a look right back, her eyes slightly magnified by the round reading spectacles on her nose, "There's something different about you, isn't there?"

"What's the book?" Rory glanced over.

"It's called 'Melody Malone,'" the Judge turned on her spot, shifting about to face them instead, "Apparently it's a mystery/detective novel set in Old New York."

"She's got ice in her heart and a kiss on her lips and a vulnerable side she keeps well-hidden," Amy recited sarcastically.

"Oh, you've read it!" the Doctor cheered, grinning at her.

"No, _you_ read it," Amy huffed, "Aloud. And then went 'Yowzah.'"

"I only went 'yowzah' because she'd broken a lock with a paperclip," the Doctor argued, "It's impressive! Not many locks can just be picked like that without a sonic."

The Ponds and the Judge stared at him, wondering if he knew really just how easy it was to pick a lock without a sonic. He really was ridiculously codependent on his screwdriver, wasn't he?

"You know, only you could fancy someone in a book," Rory teased as he sat up.

"I don't fancy her," the Doctor stuck his nose up, "I am married," he added, as though that should put an end to the argument. The Ponds shook their head but the Judge smiled a bit more, knowing he'd meant that the only one he 'fancied' was his wife by that statement, "I'm just reading. I just like the cover."

"Ooh!" this time Amy decided to tease him and reached for the book, "Can we see the cover?"

"No," he shifted away from her, pulling the book back, "No. I'm busy. It's your hair," he accused, trying to distract her, "Is it your hair?"

It appeared to work as Amy sat back and rolled her eyes, "Oh, shut up."

"I think it's her glasses dear," the Judge called, "She's got reading glasses on," she wasn't entirely sure if that's what the Doctor meant, but her husband did tend to miss the obvious quite a lot, with his luck he WOULD miss the fact that Amy now wore glasses.

"I don't like them," the Doctor scrunched up his face at that, "They make your eyes look all liney," he reached out, frowning, and lifted the glasses off Amy's nose, looking intently at her face, before he quickly dropped them as though he'd been burned and turned away, "No, actually. Sorry. They're fine," he swallowed hard, looking down at his book, silently reading, "Carry on."

"Ok," Rory sighed, standing up, sensing that things were about to get quite awkward, "I'm going to go and get us some more coffee. Who wants more coffee? Me too! I'll go!"

"Rory," Amy called as Rory turned to do just that, "Do I have noticeable lines on my eyes now?"

The Judge had to give that one to Amy, she had worked out why the Doctor had gone all quiet, why he'd looked away from Amy, he'd seen age lines around her eyes. She hadn't quite thought Amy would work it out though so that was at least one small point to the woman. She did know, however, that Amy likely had no idea why the Doctor had gotten so quiet so suddenly at the sight of it.

She glanced at the Doctor at that thought, her smile growing sad as she saw him half hunched over his book, his eyes fixed on the pages but not quite reading it. She understood his silence. Seeing the lines on Amy's face, all they would do is remind them of something Amy had mentioned before, they were growing older. Amy had worried that their friends would notice that she and Rory were aging faster than the others were. The Doctor had been able to brush that aside because, well, he hadn't seen any signs of them aging, not even when Amy had mentioned that it felt like 10 years had gone by for them of the Doctor on and off in their lives. It was possible that that was how long it had been since Amy had first travelled with him. She had been 19 when Prisoner 0 had appeared, 21 when she really started to travel with him. There was their honeymoon time, then 2 months on Earth, three months running around America, more travels, at least 9 months worth total for her to have a child, then 3 months of summer. Right there that was likely already 2 years. Then the Doctor had left them on Earth once more, for about 2 years, and travelled with them on and off for a number of other odd months. They'd had to have had at least half a year for their marriage to fall apart, a 10 months till the dinosaurs, a few more between then and Mercy. 9 months for the cubes, and all of that coupled with endless weeks in the TARDIS between stops on Earth, it could very well be about 10 years for them.

He hated when his companions grew older, it was harder to be around humans than Time Lords in that sense. Humans grew old, they decayed and they died and they left him. That was why, she knew, he also tended to leave his companions quickly and without looking back. Death was a far more permanent separation and once a human was dead he wouldn't be able to see them again save for cheap tricks and very distant observations. If he could leave them on Earth, in their prime, then that was how he could always remember them. They'd be those youthful humans that had their whole lives ahead of them. He could live for centuries and still keep that belief that that was how they would stay, because he had a time machine and he could appear five minutes after he'd last seen them if he chose to. He didn't though, because he wanted them to be like that in his memory, not to see them age, not to see them growing closer and closer to death and a permanent loss.

Amy's lines around her eyes were signs to him that Amy was aging, that she wouldn't be that little girl he'd met first for much longer. She could tell, after this trip, there might be a few more he'd plan, but he would be bringing the Ponds back very soon, so that he could remember them as they were now and not lose them to old age.

"Yes," the Doctor answered, startling the Judge out of her observations, she'd almost forgotten that Amy had asked a question.

"No," Rory countered instantly.

"You didn't look," Amy told her husband, who still had his back to her from where he'd paused in his goings.

"I noticed them earlier," Rory slowly turned, and winced as he realized how he'd just said that, "_Didn't_ notice them. I specifically remember _not_ noticing them."

Amy narrowed her eyes playfully, "You walk among fire pits, centurion."

"Do I have to come over there?" he started to smile as he walked towards his wife.

"You can, if you like."

"Well, we have company," he crouched down beside her.

"Well they could use an example and refresher then," Amy smirked, reaching out to tug Rory closer to kiss him.

It was truly the only way she could get back at the Judge for some of her remarks, to be closer to her husband. Because while she knew that Doctor and Judge had centuries worth of issues to resolve before they could truly be at a place that a husband and wife should be, she had seen them get closer…but they hadn't actually kissed just yet. She was looking forward to the day they would though. She…she wanted the Doctor to be happy and she saw him, little by little, with each adventure, with each wound being healed, growing happier.

"Oh!" the Doctor grimaced, "Do you know, it is so humiliating when you do that," he huffed, turning back to his book.

Amy laughed though, she could see a bit of pink on his cheeks.

"Coffee?" Rory looked around, standing.

"Coffee," Amy agreed, waving Rory off as he left.

"Can I have a go?" the Doctor glanced at Amy, taking her glasses off and putting them on his face, "Oh!" he grinned, eyeing the book, "Actually, that is much better. That is exciting."

"Are you going to read aloud again," the Judge moved closer to them.

"Hmm…" the Doctor hummed, "Nope," he smirked and held the book out to her, "You are."

"What? Why?"

The Doctor shrugged, "You always did the voices better," he smiled at her. He knew that she would claim HE had read their children bedtimes stories best, but…he loved it when he got to see her do it. He did it more often than not, much more than her, so hearing her tell their children stories was a rare treat and one he loved getting the most out of. And now, now she would be reading the story to him.

"I'm not going to yowz," she warned him, taking the book, but he held it for a moment longer, just enough to rip the last page out and shove it into his pocket.

"Why did you do that?" Amy blinked at the action.

"To keep the story going," the Judge answered, "It was why he read the stories most, he never let it end, just picked up the next night."

"I _hate _endings," the Doctor defended, "Now, come on dear, read."

The Judge shook her head, but held the book up, open to the page he'd been reading and continued where he left off, "As I crossed the street, I saw the thin guy, but he didn't see me. I guess that's how it began. I followed the skinny guy for two more blocks before he turned and I could ask exactly what he was doing here. He looked a little scared, so I gave him my best smile and my bluest eyes…" she trailed off a moment, her expression growing more serious as she saw the next few words.

"You're not gonna yowz too are you?" Amy glanced at her for her silence, "You said you weren't gonna yowz."

"I'm not yowzing," the Judge swallowed, "Doctor…" she looked at him, seeing him frowning at how she had stiffened from the book, handing it over to him to see what was written there.

Amy started to frown now, "What did the skinny guy say?"

"He said," the Doctor gaped at the page, "'I just went to get coffees for the Doctor, the Judge, and Amy. Hello, River.'"

"They're basically being kidnapped," the Judge told Amy as she got to her feet, pulling the Doctor up as well as Amy snatched the book to see for herself, trying to read it as she hurried after the Time Lord who were half running through the park to get back to the TARDIS.

"What's River doing in a book?" Amy shook her head, reading how Rory and River had been put into a car and driven off, "What's _Rory_ doing in a book?"

"He went to get coffee!" the Doctor said, "Pay attention."

"He went to get coffee and turned up in a book. How does that work?"

"Alright, even I can admit no human would be able to work that out from just that Doctor," the Judge told him as they reached the phone box.

"I don't know," the Doctor muttered, quickly pulling out the key, "We're in New York!"

"Yes, Captain Obvious, we are, but that won't explain how Rory got into a book that takes place in the late 1930s," the Judge countered. She reached out and grabbed the Doctor's arm as he fumbled with the key, "Doctor," she gripped his arm hard, tugging him slightly so he'd face her, "Take a breath, and calm down, you'll need to focus and these jitters…" she shook her head, "You're a doctor," she loosened her hold on his arm, allowing it to drift to his hand, squeezing it, "Steady hands are your specialty right?"

The Doctor gave her a smile for that and nodded, turning back to the door, his hands firm, and unlocked the door with ease, dashing in with the Judge and Amy after him, the two Time Lords heading for the controls as Amy tried to work out more clues from the book.

"Where did you get this book?" Amy called.

"It was in my jacket," he answered.

"How did it get _there?__"_

_"_Have you SEEN his pockets?" the Judge scoffed, "Half the time I needed a bucket to put all his odds and ends that end up in there when I did the laundry. I don't think HE knows how half of it ends up in there."

"Date," the Doctor mumbled, "Date. Does she mention a date? When is this happening?"

"April 1938," the Judge spoke.

"Yes, but what day?"

"The 3rd," Amy read, frowning as she skimmed the rest of the page, "However Rory got there, River says it couldn't have been the TARDIS."

"Couldn't have?" the Doctor frowned, "What does she mean, 'couldn't have?'"

"Is 1938 TARDIS proof?" the Judge looked at the Doctor, not entirely sure. She doubted that the humans would have the technology to do something like that in 1938, but given all the time travel the Doctor had done before she'd joined him, the damage that could sometimes be done because of it, she wouldn't discount that 1938 might have some sort of temporal scar that would block the TARDIS from entering.

"No…I…I don't know," the Doctor turned to Amy, "Does she say why?"

"She says the city's full of time distortions," Amy read quickly, "She says it would be impossible to land the TARDIS there. Something about a plane and a blizzard," she grew solemn and serious and looked at the Doctor, "She says not even she could do it."

"Well of course she couldn't," the Judge cut in, seeing the Doctor about to open his mouth, putout, "She's only human."

"She's part-Time Lord," Amy reminded her.

"She's a mutated human," the Judge repeated, "She is not, in any way, a Time Lord. It takes more than wonky DNA to make one or to understand what we are. If she were an actual Time Lord, she would understand that time distortions are difficult, but not impossible."

The Doctor started to smile at that, "Not impossible," he agreed, "Just a bit unlikely."

He missed Jenny, they'd contacted her after the Cubes incident, but she'd been busy, helping settle a dispute back on Messaline, it seemed their history had gotten distorted again and they needed her to set the record straight. It had only been for a few minutes, but he really wanted to speak to his daughter a bit more. Actually…he really wanted to just see her speaking with the Judge more. Even though he knew Jenny was an odd case, that she wasn't in any way a sign of infidelity, the fact still remained that she wasn't biologically the Judge's child but she was HIS. He knew that she'd met Jenny before, worked with her, but he didn't know how they really felt about each other. Seeing them talking and laughing and seeing how comfortable the Judge was with Jenny and Jenny with her, it warmed his hearts.

"1938," he murmured, reaching out to grab a control, " Here we come!" and threw it…

Only for sparks to go off, the console to erupt in flames, and the TARDIS to jolt violently, sending the three of them falling back into the rails as the alarms went off, warnings flashing past the monitor until the TARDIS stopped with a large crash.

Amy paused a moment, waiting to see if the TARDIS would move again, "What was that?" she asked.

"1938," the Doctor grumbled, "We just bounced off it."

"Is it all forms of time travel or just the artron energy of a TARDIS?" the Judge wondered, snatching the book from the jump seat where Amy had dropped it, flipping through the pages to get back to the right one, "Vortex Manipulators can make it," she read quickly, seeing River telling Rory that was how she got there, "So we either need a beacon of some sort or we have to go visit Jack."

"Beacon it is," the Doctor decided, seeing that the Judge had given him a choice, and…he wasn't really in any hurry to bring Jack along, he…well, he wanted to spend a bit more time with his wife than spend it with his wife with Jack there too. They COULD do this, he knew it, they could get the TARDIS there and, it would probably be easier to get them all out of whatever was going on if they had the TARDIS, a box with walls and doors and locks, than to leave themselves out in the open and hope River's manipulator worked.

He turned, about to head to the monitor to do that…when the console went up in flames, out of nowhere, as though the TARDIS were telling him not to dare try it at the moment, "Right…best give the old girl a mo," he muttered, taking the Judge's hand and pulling her out the door with Amy, stepping outside to see they'd appeared in a cemetery just outside of New York.

"How did Rory get there then?" Amy asked, taking the book from the Judge to double check, "He doesn't have a Vortex Manipulator."

"The Weeping Angels," the Doctor let out a breath, rubbing his head, it was the only thing he could think of that could send someone into the past like that without use of a time travel capsule.

"The Weeping Angels?"

"It makes sense."

"It makes _what?__"_

_"_Didn't you encounter them before?" the Judge shook her head, giving Amy a look that clearly said 'THINK about it' before she added, "The Weeping Angels are known across the universe for doing just this. They send you into the past so that you can live out your life there, they feed on the energy of what could have been your life in the present."

_"_Well, we've got a time machine," Amy remarked, ignoring the very real fact that she HAD encountered the Angels before and yes, she did know how they operated, "We can just go and get him."

The Judge blinked, "Were you not paying attention to what just happened when we attempted to go to 1938? We need more information to get there."

"And now we are back where we started, in 2012," the Doctor huffed, throwing out an arm towards the New York City skyline.

"We didn't start in a graveyard," Amy pointed out, "What are we doing here?"

"Don't know. Probably causally linked, somehow. Doesn't matter."

"Extractor fans on," the Judge worked on the TARDIS, knowing that the flames would likely die down if they gave it time, but wanting to help speed up the process.

"Well, we're going to get there, somehow," Amy muttered, flipping through the pages of the book, "We're in the rest of the book."

"In what?" the Doctor frowned.

"Page 43. You're going to break something."

"I'm what?"

"'Why do you have to break mine?' I asked the Doctor," Amy started to read, "He frowned and said, 'Because Amy read it in a book and, now, I have no choice.'"

"You stupid human!" the Judge quickly snatched the book out of Amy's hand, "You've spent all this time traveling in time and you do THAT?!"

"Do what?!" Amy glared, not appreciating being called stupid so outright.

"You can't read ahead," the Doctor agreed, looking just as serious and disappointed as the Judge, "You mustn't and…and you can't do that."

"But we've already been reading it!"

"In time with what is happening in the story!" the Judge nearly shouted, "We've been keeping parallel to them within the causal nexus what you're doing is trying to broach outside that! And you can't!"

"Why not?" Amy crossed her arms, "It could help us find Rory!"

"And if you read ahead and find that Rory dies?" the Doctor spoke, trying to keep the Judge from going off on her, though he had to admit he was rather upset about what Amy had done as well, "This isn't any old future, Amy, it's ours. Once we know what's coming, it's fixed. I'm going to break something because you told me that I'm going to do it. No choice now."

"Time can be rewritten," Amy said quietly.

"Not for us," the Judge shook her head, "Not when it comes to time travelers and our personal futures. And especially not once you've read it," she held up the book as though it were proof, "This Amy, this book has already happened and, because it was written by a time traveler, this is what WILL happen if we know that it does. Foreknowledge is dangerous."

"We need to get to 1938," the Doctor ran a hand through his hair, turning to the Judge, not wanting to talk about this any longer, "Is there anything in there that can help us get a beacon going?"

The Judge opened the book and looked at the last page she'd read, skimming it for anything that might help, "Not yet, River and Rory are in some…Mr. Grayle's home, looking at vases from the Quin Dynasty…"

"What dynasty?" the Doctor perked up at that, an idea striking him.

"Early Quin."

He grinned widely, "Geronimo."

~8~

The Judge wasn't entirely sure just how well the Doctor's plan was going to work. They'd stopped into a small Chinese vase-making shop in the dynasty that had been mentioned, but that meant there were thousands of vases that would be made and they doubted that all of them would end up with the code words that they'd put in there. But they just needed one vase, just one with a set word on it to make its way to Grayle's home and they would be able to home in on it and take the TARDIS right there, push past the distortions and land in 1938.

"Got it!" the Doctor cheered, seeing 'Yowzah' appear on the monitor when a small alarm went off to alert them of it, "Landing lights," he grinned at the Judge, "We have a signal. Locking on," he quickly moved to the controls, glancing across the way to where the Jude was standing, "Ready for this dear?"

"I'll have to be," she took a deep breath, "It's been…a very long while since I've had to pilot a TARDIS in these conditions," if she ever had before, she doubted she ever had. She knew how to fly a TARDIS, everyone on Gallifrey learned at one point or another, but she had never really had need to use one before. Even when she'd been leaving the planet to try and find the Doctor after he'd taken the Moment, she'd used a shuttle not a TARDIS. She recognized the controls, she knew how they worked, it was just…rusty, like getting on a bicycle though, she was slowly getting the hang of it again.

"Doctor…" Amy gasped, reading as parallel to the book as she could, but she looked up at him in horror, "Grayle's got an Angel."

"What?" he gaped at her.

"The book, it says that Grayle's been trying to collect them, he's got one in his house…River's gotten caught."

"Then there's no time to lose," the Doctor nodded, turning to the Judge, catching her eye before they both started to work on the controls. The lights in the console room started to flicker, the box shaking as the engines groaned, the TARDIS struggling to materialize.

"What does that mean?!" they glanced at the doors, able to hear someone outside them shouting now, a man.

"It means, Mr. Grayle," and the voice of River Song joined his, "The Doctor will see you now."

The trio in the TARDIS took only a moment to make sure that the TARDIS was stable before they turned and ran for the doors. They dashed out and into a rather well off home, clearly one that belonged to a collector…one that would be rather cross that quite a few of his pieces were now shattered on the floors, but that was what the man got for kidnapping.

"Rory?" Amy ran into the room, looking around, before turning to hurry up the stairs and check the second floor, not seeing her husband there, "Rory! Rory?!"

"That's…River Song yes?" the Judge asked the Doctor quietly, pointing towards a doorway through which he could see River standing there, in the next room, her wrist caught in the grip of a Weeping Angel that was chained up.

"Um…yes," the Doctor cleared his throat, glancing at the Judge and then to River, "Um…would it…would it make me a wanker to ask you two not to fight?" he inquired softly, not wanting to come across like he was that sort of fond for River, he wasn't, but just…really not wanting a fight to break out. He'd tried, very hard, to not give the Judge a reason to think that River was a threat to their marriage.

He wasn't entirely sure if he had gone about it the right way. He hadn't really brought up River Song much, mostly because he didn't feel like…he had to. He didn't really bring up his past companions either and what he felt for River was very much what he felt for any other companion, though mixed with slightly more guilt than most. He felt that same guilt for the Ponds as well, because of him their daughter had been taken and turned into River, they'd lost all that time. Yes they'd gotten to 'raise' Mels, but growing up with someone wasn't quite the same as raising them. He felt guilt for all they'd lost, all that trauma, he felt guilt for whatever had been done to baby Melody Pond to turn her into the assassin and psychopath she'd become.

But he didn't feel love for River. Or, he didn't feel THAT sort of love for her. He loved his companions, in a friendly sort, they were all important to him, his best friends, but there was only one woman that he loved in the sense he knew River had wanted from him, and that was his wife. Their relationship had been hard, tricky, but they had grown to love each other from a mutual respect, they had grown to be closer and trust and love and that made it so much more unbreakable of a bond. He loved his wife, in a way he wouldn't love another woman, so it never even touched his mind to even consider River like that.

So he never really brought her up, because there was nothing to bring up about her. The Judge was aware that other companions had had feelings for him, Rose, Martha, Amy, that not many of them knew that SHE existed. She had accepted that the feelings of others couldn't be controlled but it was HIS feelings that concerned her, his lack of reciprocation with the others had proven to her, without saying, that he didn't return their feelings that way. Given that she'd come to the pyramid, she knew that River had feelings for him, she knew that River wanted him…but the fact that HE had called HER there instead had been a show to River that it could never be. She knew that River harbored some sort of feeling for him, but she was also well aware that he had never encouraged them.

He just…he really didn't want a fight to break out between his wife and the daughter of his companions, the last time they'd met, the Judge HAD held River at gunpoint, though it had more to do with setting the timelines right than anything else.

"No it wouldn't," the Judge gave him a small reassuring smile, "And I won't."

"You won't?" he eyed her warily, knowing that they'd both had a bad bout of jealousy in the past.

"I won't if she won't," she amended, "And…" she glanced at River, watched her intently, noticed how River had only looked their way once but turned her attention back to the Weeping Angel and remained focused on that, "I don't believe she'll be a problem."

She could practically feel his apprehension about this. And it was…odd, to think of how she might react, actually being confronted with the woman before her. Of all the people that the Doctor travelled with, she was sure that River had tried to come the closest to being something to him in that sense. With all her foreknowledge at the different points she met him, it was clear that some things she said, some implications, were meant to make the Doctor question himself, but it never happened. She knew of River, the first time that he had encountered the woman, in a Library, he had contacted her, he had been…upset to say the least. He'd feared, for a long time that she was a future incarnation of her and she couldn't deny that it might be possible, though there were things that seemed to go against that. Why not speak in Gallifreyan, why not communicate with him telepathically, why travel and be around humans willingly, why kill someone? It wasn't till he'd found that she was Melody Pond that he'd been relieved of that notion.

He'd kept a distance from River due to not knowing who she was, just because it was possible that she could be a future Judge didn't mean he was going to risk that, especially when she didn't act like her or think like her or go by 'the Judge' or anything like that. It was one very minor possibility but not the most glaring one. She trusted him, she had to, to let him off the planet the first time, she had to trust that he would keep true to his marriage vows and he had, he had never ever given her a reason to doubt him, had been open and honest with all attempts made by women in the past and never lied to her about anything. So she trusted him when it came to River Song as well.

Well, she did now. She knew that there were past incarnations of her that would have reacted differently. That was the odd part about all of this, how she was acting now WAS different than past hers would have reacted. She knew some of her past selves would be cold and distant with River, others harsh, some ignore her, others would try and be overly kind because she could assume River was still suffering in knowing that the Doctor was never going to be hers, while some might try to make it even more clear that the Doctor was HERS. This her…well, if the Doctor saw her as just another companion, she would do her best to treat River just the same. If River tried the flirting she was sure that the woman had inherited from Amy, then there might be issues, but if River was respectful to her, she would be equally so back.

It was the least she could do given that the Ponds would be leaving soon and that was their daughter standing ahead of them.

And speaking of the Pond child…she was still in the grips of a Weeping Angel and probably very uncomfortable, "Come on," she nudged the Doctor and stepped into the room, the study, that River was stuck in.

"Sorry we're late," the Doctor offered, trying to force a smile but it was clear to both women that he was uncomfortable around them.

River rolled her eyes at that, something that made the Judge give a small smile, hopefully this wouldn't be as awkward as the Doctor was expecting. She paused beside Grayle, kneeling down to touch his neck, checking his pulse, "I think he's in shock," she assured the Doctor, "He should be fine in an hour or so."

"Not if I can get loose," River muttered, tugging on her wrist but it was still stuck.

The Judge glanced at the Doctor, seeing him fidgeting, looking between them, and sighed, standing, "We had best get this over with," she told River, stepping over to the woman, "For his peace of mind, where are you in your timeline Dr. Song? Are you still in prison?"

"Pardoned," River answered, her voice sounding very controlled, not sounding like she was controlling her emotions but more so trying to keep too much from slipping through, weighing her words to see what she should or shouldn't say, "Ages ago. And it's 'Professor' Song now."

The Doctor glanced at the Judge as she nodded slightly, understanding what he had, she was nearer to the Library now, "So it's been quite a few years since Berlin, I take it?"

River nodded, "Ages and ages," she glanced at the Doctor, seeing him still hesitating, "Oh do stop that Doctor," she huffed, "I'm not about to try and steal you away from your wife, I have more dignity and self-respect than that."

"I…I wasn't…I didn't think…" the Doctor started to stutter. He knew that there had been something…lacking in the sort of flirting that River did with him in the past, when the Judge hadn't been there. The older the incarnation of River that he met, the more it sounded like she was just going through the motions, like she knew no matter what she said it wouldn't get anything out of him. The younger she was, the closer to Berlin, the more…hopeful? Perhaps that was the right word, it was like the older she got the more she seemed to realize that her life shouldn't revolve around him and that he would never be hers.

"I was a young girl then Doctor," River told him reasonably, "You were, quite literally, the focus of my life, thanks to the Silence," she sighed, "I've had time now though, Doctor, time to find myself and what _I_ want, not what they wanted. I do think you are a remarkable man," she gave him a soft smile, "But I know you need an equally remarkable Time Lady, not just a…mutated human," she held up her other hand to keep the Judge from speaking, even though she knew the woman wasn't going to apologize for saying that to her all those years ago, well years to HER at least, "I've made peace with that and…I'm glad I did," she looked between them, "I've been able to live my own life for ME and be the sort of woman I want to be, not what I thought you might want me to be."

River glanced at the Judge and smirked, "Just to get that out of the way," she winked at the woman.

She wouldn't lie and say that she was entirely over the Doctor, she doubted there was a soul alive that could ever claim the same when it came to the Doctor, he always left a mark on the people whose lives he touched, she was no different. But she wasn't going to flirt, she wasn't going to tease, she wasn't going to get in the way of his life with his wife. She couldn't do that to him. A good majority of her life in Luna University, where she'd gone after Berlin, had been learning about Time Lords and Gallifrey. She knew about the war, about the loss of the planet, she knew quite a bit about the devastation it wrought not just on the Doctor but on the surrounding worlds and people. She knew the Doctor was a father as well, she could remember being a baby, held in his arms and her mother's and father's, had heard them ask if he had ever been a father and she knew, she knew from how much he hesitated, from how he changed the topic, that yes…he HAD been. Which means the Judge had been a mother as well. ALL they had of their planet and their lives were each other and the TARDIS, their lives had ended with the war, their families torn apart, leaving them with nothing but pieces to be picked up.

If she felt any true love at all for the Doctor, she could not begrudge him this, she could not get in the way of him and his wife and an experience that only the other could understand, a loss they shared, a pain they both held. She would not do that to him, she would not do that to the Judge either, they both deserved better given all they'd lost. So she refused to be a problem to them, she refused to cause trouble with them, no. She may not fully get over the Doctor, few would be able to, but she did care for him and she did want him to be happy and right now…seeing his relieved smile, seeing the softness in his eyes when he looked at the Judge, like he was happy that she wouldn't be put in a difficult spot, she could tell…he was happy now.

And that was all she wanted.

She could swallow whatever emotions she might have left for him, if it meant that he was going to be happy.

"You were pardoned?" the Doctor looked back at her, that small smile still on his face.

"Turns out the person I killed never existed in the first place," River smirked, doing her best to keep this light and push any lingering feelings down, "Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someone's gone around, deleting himself from every database in the universe."

"I got too big," he shrugged, though from the way his gaze flickered to the Judge, both women knew there was more to it than that. He'd gotten too big, yes, he'd tried to do this to keep himself safe but the Judge knew as well that it was also her promise that she'd travel with him when the Ponds left, he'd wanted to make sure it was safe for HER as well.

"And, now, no one's ever heard of you," River added, "Didn't you used to be somebody?"

"Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?" he countered, feeling just a little more comfortable, the way River was talking, it wasn't flirty, it was more…friendly this time.

"Doctor who?" River joked, proving it more.

The Doctor shook his head and scanned the Angel as the Judge stepped closer to look at its grip on River's arm, reaching up to gently wiggle the woman's wrist, testing the grip, "She's holding you too tight…"

"At least she didn't send me back in time," River spoke, though her voice was slightly quieter. It was one thing to try and be amicable with the woman that was the Doctor's real live wife, but it was another for it to actually happen, for the other woman to be just as…considerate of her as she was trying to be for the Judge.

"Given Grayle's treatment?" the Judge shook her head, "I doubt she'd be strong enough."

"Well, I need a hand back. So which is it going to be," she glanced between them, "Are you going to break my wrist or hers?" the two of them fell silent and glanced at each other, hearing the echo of Amy's words, the words she'd read, coming back to them. River frowned, seeing their solemn looks, "Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?"

The Doctor looked back, seeing that Amy had come to the doorway, "Because Amy read it in a book and, now, I have no choice," he recited the same words as well and gave Amy a look, "You see?"

"This is why Humans shouldn't time travel," the Judge told him quietly, "They muck it up nearly as much as you do."

The Doctor pointed at her as though he were about to say something, but turned back to the Angel's grip, examining it quickly, knowing he couldn't exactly argue with that. Some of his past companions had nearly caused the end of the world by interfering with time.

River frowned at that, "What book?"

"Melody Malone," the Judge held a hand back to Amy, the ginger girl having not let go of the book since the TARDIS had tried to land, and took it from her as Amy gave it over, "You wrote it apparently. But since the events of it are still happening…"

"We can't read it," River sighed, the Judge nodding at that.

She had to wonder though, if mutated humans were only slightly more clever than humans, Amy hadn't grasped that concept while River had. But, then again, this River had obviously had years of time travel on her own and had to have learned the rules of it by now.

"I don't like the cover much," River tried to lighten the mood.

"But if River's going to write that book, she'd make it useful, yeah?" Amy tried to make it up to them, tried to help them think.

"Well, I'll certainly try. But we can't read ahead. It's too dangerous."

"I know, but there must be something we can look at."

"What, a page of handy hints, previews, spoiler-free?"

"Isn't that the Table of Contents?" the Judge wondered, thinking of the page that gave hints of what the chapters might relate to.

The Doctor's eyes widened and he looked at the Judge, "That is brilliant!" he quickly took the book from her, "I could kiss you dear."

The Judge's eyes flickered to River only a brief second, seeing her look away at that, focusing on the Angel again, "Maybe later," she told him quietly, not that she really had to, he was already focused on the book and skimming the titles.

"He's in the cellar!" he declared.

"Gimme!" Amy held out a hand and the Doctor tossed her the sonic for the locks and a light before she ran off.

"Oi!" the Judge called, "Honestly," she turned to hurry after Amy, "You humans and your rushing off without a thought!" she could hear the Doctor laughing softly behind her as she gave chase after Amy.

All this had started because Rory had somehow wandered into a nest of Weeping Angels, and now Amy was rushing off…into a house that had at least one Weeping Angel in it already, a Weeping Angel which, if its open mouth was to be believed, was likely calling to the others to help it.

"Amy wait!" she called, seeing Amy disappear through the door to the cellar, calling out for Rory, "Amy!" she hurried around the corner of the door and gasped when she saw what the light of the sonic had fallen on, three small cherub statues at the base of the stairs, "Amy no!" she gasped, grabbing Amy's arm and pulling her back.

"Rory!" Amy struggled, trying to head down the stairs.

The Judge winced as one of Amy's elbows caught her ribs and when she looked back, the statues had moved, "Amy stop it!" she pulled Amy back with more force, "Those statues there are Weeping Angels," she told her, finally getting Amy to stop struggling, "They're baby Angels and we need to get out before more come."

"Did they get Rory?" Amy started moving back, the light falling on a box of matches and burned out ones on the floor next to the statues, "Where is he? Did they take him?"

"I think that would be obvious, dear," the Judge muttered, getting the two of them up to the door. She pushed Amy through and quickly slammed the door shut, hearing giggling and thump on the door, signaling that the statues had indeed been baby Angels. So she quickly locked the door.

**"**So is this what's going to happen?" Amy asked as the Judge turned and began to walk back towards where she'd left the Doctor and River, "We just keep chasing him back in time and they keep pulling him further back."

But whatever answer the Judge was going to give was cut off when she saw the Doctor stalking by the TARDIS, pacing, irritated and tense, "_Theta,_" she called in Gallifreyan, ignoring Amy for a moment, knowing from how his fists were clenching that English would likely not get through to him, "_What is it? What's wrong?_"

"_Nothing,_" he muttered, his gaze still locked on the floor.

The Judge let out a breath and stepped into the path of his pacing, putting a hand up on the center of his chest to stop him, "_Tell me husband._"

She knew it had to be serious when even calling him husband didn't get a reaction out of him.

He swallowed hard, "_The last title,_" he picked up the book and showed her it, "_Amelia's Last Farewell._"

"_That could mean anything,_" she reminded him, "_It could be her last to…to Rory. Or to River. It could be her last to us, to travelling…_"

"_Or it could mean she dies,_" he cut in, tears in his eyes, "_I don't want her to die._"

"_You never want anyone to die,_" she murmured, "_But it DOES happen Theta, it always does. No matter how hard we try, even WE die._"

"_But for humans, it's more permanent,_" he shook his head, "_I promised Brian…_"

"_I know,_" she murmured, "_But until we actually know what it means, we can't assume anything,_" she ducked her head slightly, catching his eye, "_Ok?_"

He swallowed hard but took a breath, "_Ok._"

"Good," she smiled, switching to English, "Now…where's River?"

He winced at that.

"Doctor?" she gave him a look.

"I told her to break her wrist out without breaking her wrist," he admitted.

"That would be impossible," she shook her head, "She broke it in the book, she'll break it now."

"I know, I know," he ran a hand through his hair, "I just…"

"You wanted her to change the future," she nodded, "Because you thought, if she did that, then the other titles would change as well. But that's not how it works, you KNOW that."

"I know," he repeated, "I…"

"I've got readings," River called, interrupting him as she stepped into the room, a long jacket on, her right arm hanging at her side, a handheld scanner in her left hand, "Rory isn't back in time. I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He's been moved in space, not in time, and it's not that far from here, by the look of it."

The Doctor stared at her with wide happy eyes, "You got out," he breathed, not seeing the Judge frowning at River, both of them knew it was impossible, but…she'd done it, hadn't she?

"So where is he?" Amy asked, more concerned with that then how River had done anything.

"Well, come on, come on, come on, where is he?!"

River gave him an unamused look, "If it was that easy, I'd get _you_ to do it."

"I don't understand," the Judge eyed her, stepping closer, "You couldn't have gotten your wrist out without breaking it."

"He asked," River shrugged, "So I did. Problem?"

"Yes," the Judge nodded, cutting off the Doctor's happy laugh, "If you did that…then you just changed the future."

"I've done it before."

"And that worked out so well," she deadpanned, "River the events we've read are already fixed points, if you've changed that…"

"Rory's within a few blocks," River cut in, clearing her throat and looking back at the scanner, "There's a car out front. Shall we steal it?"

"Geronimo!" the Doctor cheered, hoping beyond hope that, because River had altered a fixed point, no matter how small, and nothing had happened, time hadn't fallen apart, that maybe, just maybe, the rest of it wasn't fixed points either. He dashed for the door, just past River, knocking into her hanging right arm…

Only to make her hiss in pain and mover her arm to her chest, clutching it, the sleeve falling down to reveal River's wrist was bruised and swollen, obviously still broken.

~8~

It was a solemn air that had fallen over the group as they huddled in the main foyer of Grayle's home a short while later. River was sitting rigidly on the steps, her gaze on the floor, as though knowing that, by lying more to the Doctor she hadn't exactly won any points, even as friends, with the man. Amy was standing against the wall, too restless to sit with her husband trapped out there somewhere. The Judge was moving around the room, checking the artifacts that Grayle had collected, wanting to make sure he hadn't started to collect any other alien things that he hadn't realized were alien while the Doctor soniced the vortex manipulator and the scanner, syncing them and handing them to Amy.

"Ok," he told Amy, "When all those numbers on both units go to zero, that's when we've got a lock, ok? That's how we find Rory."

"Got it," Amy nodded and focused on the scanner intently.

The Doctor glanced at the Judge a moment, catching her eye, seeming to silently be asking her something, not even needing to ask her in his mind for her to understand what it was. She gave him a small smile and nodded. He gave her a smile in return and moved to sit beside River, "Why did you lie to us?" he asked her.

River took a breath, "When one cares for an ageless God who insists on the face of a 12-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage," she offered, choosing to be honest this time.

The Doctor nodded absently, understanding that there had been more damage done to her over the years than just the wrist. She'd given up her regenerations for him, because she cared for him, she'd tried to protect him, she would die to save others in the Library, and all the flirting, the hope that chipped away little by little when he wouldn't return her flirting, but still she did all she could to help him, because she did care, "It must hurt."

"Yes," River swallowed and sighed, "The wrist is pretty bad, too."

The Doctor reached out and took River's hand and wrist in his hands, concentrating till a soft golden-orange energy began to drift over her wound, healing it even as River protested loudly against it. But he ignored her, waiting till he'd finished, keeping a firm but gentle grip on her wrist, and placing it down when he was finished, "There you are," he patted her wrist, "How's that?"

River eyed her hand, "Well, let's see, shall we?" and then promptly slapped him with it, "That was a _stupid_ waste of regeneration energy. Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot!"

"River!" the Doctor frowned.

But River jumped to her feet, "No! You embarrass me!" she snapped and turned to stride out of the room.

The Judge looked back from the Doctor's frown to Amy's shock, and then to the slam of the front door that River had disappeared through, before she sighed and moved to follow River outside.

A/N: Hmm...I wonder what River and the Judge will say to each other without the Doctor there to hear }:) I really debated what to do with this, with how River would act around the Judge, I had done one where she was the best friend of the child, the goddaughter, the daughter, and the rival, so I wanted to sort of have one where she was normalish. Where she was sort of the interested party that matured as time went on. She still has feelings for the Doctor, but here she's choosing to be mature and think about what the Doctor wants and what makes him happy. So...like just a good and decent friend :)

Some notes on reviews...

I'm glad you liked the little title :) I thought I'd try and be a bit different for this story and, instead of making it an entire elaborate process, making it sort of like a base for a marriage :)

Clara, I think, will call the Judge 'Judy' or 'Plaidy' for now though ;)

That's awesome :) I'm glad you and your sister are enjoying the stories :)

I can't say about the kids just yet. I can say that in a general sense, they are dead :'( I don't think the Doctor and Judge will really know 100% whether one of them might have survived or if the Judge felt the regeneration or 'death' but the child survived till Gallifrey returns though }:)


	11. The Angels Take Manhattan - Part 2

A/N: Just a small warning, this chapter might contain a spoiler for the Time of the Doctor ;)

~8~

The Angels Take Manhattan - Part 2

The Judge paused just outside Grayle's home, standing at the top of the steps, looking at River as she stood before the car she'd mentioned to steal. She could see from how River was standing that she was upset, she was tense and focused on something across the street but not moving or pacing. She glanced back at the house and then to River again. It was easier, at times, to think on River if she focused on the part where the woman was just the daughter of Amy and Rory, that she was someone's daughter and not someone who tried to flirt with the Doctor and not someone who had tried to kill the Doctor but just someone's little girl. She let out a long breath and headed down the stairs and over to the woman's side, crossing her arms as it was slightly chilly out.

"Thank you," she began, startling River out of her thoughts, "For trying to not let on about your wrist even though it hurt you."

"Yes well," River shifted, subconsciously mimicking the Judge's stance, "He always feel so guilty when people get hurt around him, I just wanted to spare him that."

"Still, thank you," the Judge offered, "But you now, you shouldn't be so cross with him about healing you."

"It was a waste," River defended her actions, "He shouldn't keep doing that or, one day, he'll run out and he won't regenerate and…"

"River," the Judge cut in gently, "He's on his last body anyway."

River looked at her, her eyes wide, startled, almost shocked about that, "What?" she breathed.

The Judge sighed, she hadn't been sure how much River knew about his incarnations, which body was which, which she saw in what order, if she even knew how many there were, "Any regeneration energy he has won't help him. It's too minimal, so if he wants to use the last of it to heal you…let him, give him that comfort."

River looked down, "But I don't understand…" she let out a breath, "Life with a time traveler is complicated," she muttered, both of them realizing that they couldn't quite talk about this, that the subject of the Doctor and his future was far too dangerous a subject, that it danced along a line that they had to be careful not to cross.

So they left it at that.

"I just…don't understand why he does that," River mumbled, "Use his energy so recklessly. My wrist can heal on its own."

"Like you said, he doesn't like people being in pain," the Judge reminded her, "You should have seen him with our children when they'd get even a paper cut," she chuckled softly, "He went frantic. ALL his education and training to be a doctor just out the window the second he saw even a drop of blood. And he always felt so badly that they had gotten hurt in the first place that he couldn't help but do anything he could to heal them," she glanced at River, knowing that it had to be hard to hear her talk about the Doctor and her children, to remind her about this whole life that the Doctor shared with HER that he wouldn't with anyone else, but River was smiling, sadly but smiling.

She'd tried to keep it down, anything sweet the Doctor did, to play off any smiles or glances around River so that she wouldn't see and be too hurt. Just because the woman had backed off and started to get over the Doctor didn't mean SHE had to be cruel and flaunt that fact that the Doctor was hers in front River. She wasn't vindictive like that.

"Thank YOU," River spoke after a short silence, "For not…for…" she struggled to find the words, "For not rubbing my nose in it all."

The Judge smiled a bit at that, so River had noticed, "You're welcome."

"I get it, though," River added, "I…saw you, when I was breaking free, I saw you talk to the Doctor. Haven't a clue what you said," she told her quickly, "I can…I can read Gallifreyan, some words, I know bits and pieces and some phrases but…you were right, on the Pyramid, I'm not a real Time Lord and I accept that," she took a breath, feeling the need to say this, "When you ran after Amy, the Doctor was going to follow, but he saw something in the book and it just…" she shook her head, "The look on his face, like the bottom had dropped out of something and I tried to get him to talk to me. But he was so angry he just stormed off," she let out a sad laugh of her own, "And then I saw him, still so angry and you just…touched him and spoke to him and he…talked, he actually talked, I could see it, he was telling YOU what was wrong," she glanced at her, "You got him to open up when I couldn't, when I doubt anyone else could."

"Well," the Judge shrugged, the 'I AM his wife' was left unsaid.

"It's good, that he has you," River admitted, "That he got at least some part of his life back after the war. He's lucky to have you."

"I'm lucky to have him as well," she murmured, "And I'm grateful that he had you, and all the other companions, with him when I wasn't there."

River nodded, "We'd do anything for him."

"I know," the Judge swallowed, looking up at the stars a moment, feeling a weight fall on her that she couldn't tell River about the Library, but it had already happened for the Doctor and nothing could change it without risking rewriting his past.

"He loved you, you know," River continued after a minute. She…she didn't know when SHE would see the Doctor and Judge next, if she ever would (though she hated to think that way), so she felt like she really had to say this and say it now. Because the Judge might run into past hers or future hers and she just…she wanted the woman to know, "The entire time I've known him, no matter what…he loved you. You were always there, in his mind, in his hearts, he never…I am mature enough to admit that I tried, I'm not proud to say it, but I'm being honest. I did try to…lure him away, but…it never worked, and I knew it was never going to work. Because he loves you, he really does."

"If I say something to you River," the Judge glanced at her, "Don't take it the wrong way yes?" River nodded, curious to what she would say, "The Doctor does love you as well, because underneath everything, you are a Pond," she smiled gently, trying to say it delicately and in a way where River would know she wasn't just some mistake he took pity on or some woman he was annoyed with or felt guilty about, but just someone he did genuinely care for and love in his own way even if it was not the romantic way that River hoped, "He loves all his companions and all his friends, you all are so incredibly important to him. He may not love as a father or a lover to you, but he does love you as a friend, even more as a Pond," she reached out to put a hand on River's shoulder, "He cares River, he always will. He will care right until the bitter end, and even after he will hold you all so dearly in his memory, the absolute _best_ of you."

River smiled lightly at that, "I know," she whispered, mimicking the Judge's words as well, reaching up a hand to place it on the Judge's for a moment, squeezing it before they both let go, feeling like they'd come to an understanding about quite a few things. River felt lighter, to know that, in the end, the Doctor wouldn't come to think of her as the assassin sent to kill him or the little girl whose life had been manipulated because of him, she didn't want that, she just…wanted to be River, she wanted to be the sassy archaeologist that always popped up in the wrong order. And the Judge, she felt lighter to know that the Doctor truly had been loyal and faithful to her through it all. She felt it in her hearts, in her soul, had his reassurances of it as well, but to hear it from the one that had tried to pursue him the most…it did mean so much to her to know.

The two women shared one more smile, when the Doctor suddenly rushed out of the house with Amy, "Got it!" he called to them, "He's in a place called Winter Quay. The car, yes?" he gestured at it, "Let's go."

"You really shouldn't steal it," the Judge huffed, but she headed for the car as well, she could understand the need for this and…it was Grayle's car. They couldn't bring the TARDIS to wherever the Angels had put Rory, they'd barely managed to set down where one Angel was and it could be assumed that there would be Angels where Rory was as well. She did not agree with doing this, but if she really looked at it as restitution, as Grayle had kidnapped two people essentially and threatened one while putting other in a potentially deadly situation…this was acceptable.

The Doctor didn't say anything as he quickly soniced the car on, Amy at the wheel as she didn't trust the Doctor or Judge to drive the car. The Doctor had taken quite a bit of pleasure in recounting some stories Jack had shared about trying to teach the Judge to drive a human vehicle…which ended up with a poor mailbox in shambles along with Jack actually fearing for his immortal life and putting a ban on her ever being allowed near any moving vehicles. It was her fault, the Judge had claimed, Time Lords weren't meant to drive human vehicles, they were designed for TARDISes.

River hopped into the passenger's seat, taking the scanner from the Doctor and calling out instructions to Amy on where to go while the Time Lords sat in the back seat. Neither of them noticed a statue of a mother and son across from Grayle's home suddenly disappear as they turned the corner nor the door of the man's home thrown wide open.

It wasn't long before Amy came to a screeching stop though, just two blocks away, before a large apartment complex called the Winter Quay, the four of them quickly getting out.

"Why would they send him here?" River frowned up at the building, "Why not zap him back in time, like they normally do?"

"That is the question of the hour," the Judge murmured.

"We'll know that when we know what this place is," the Doctor determined.

"Winter Quay," Amy read off the top of it before they all shared a look and hurried towards the building.

"Please tell me you've got a plan for this," the Judge spoke to the Doctor quietly as the two of them were behind the Pond women, rushing up the main stairs of the building.

"Would that I could," the Doctor mumbled back.

"Brilliant," the Judge sighed, rolling her eyes, "Have you even got a thing, at the least?"

"Not at the mo, no."

"Wonderful," the Judge absently rubbed the leg of her pants, feeling her nerves hitting her as Amy tried to open the front door of the building.

"Hey," the Doctor reached out and took her hand, squeezing it, "Everything WILL be fine."

The Judge gave him a look for that, "I hope so."

They both looked back when the doors, without Amy or River even touching them, started to creak open on their own.

"Oh that's never a good sign," the Judge frowned, recalling quite a few horror movies that Jack had shown her, but Amy and River just dashed in, "And that proves it," she sighed.

"Proves what?" the Doctor glanced at her.

"River is definitely more human," she told him, gesturing to the door as though to say 'look how she just ran in there.'

The Doctor smiled, "Maybe we could do with being a bit more like them?" he gave her a hopeful smile but she returned it with a dry look, "Or maybe not," he looked through the door to see that the lift doors were opening, Amy and River stepping in, but River waiting half out for them, "Come on," he squeezed the Judge's hand once more and tugged her into the building, into the lift with the others.

The doors shut automatically behind them, the lift starting to rise to the third floor before Amy stepped out with a call of, "Rory!"

"He's close," River moved to take the lead, the scanner in her hand, tracking her father.

"Rory!" Amy called, moving past River when she saw a door open. She gasped, "Rory!" and ran inside, clearly having spotted him.

The Time Lords hurried to go after her, not sure what she'd seen or what condition Rory might be in, but River's call stopped them, "Look at this," they glanced over to see there was an Angel in the hallway, standing right at the very end and grinning at them, "Why is it smiling?"

"Because this is what it wanted," the Judge murmured.

The Doctor looked over at the Judge to see she was looking at a nameplate on the apartment Rory was in…reading 'R. Williams.'

"Rory," he realized, before rushing into the apartment, "Amy! Rory! Get out of here. Don't look at anything. Don't touch anything…" he trailed off when a low moan from the back of the apartment drifted over to them, the Judge and River having entered and shut the door behind them, locking it to try and give them more time from the Angels.

"Who's that?" Amy squinted, stepping more towards the back, able to see an old man lying in a bed in the dark.

He gasped as he saw them, reaching out to Amy, "Amy! Amy, please…"

"Doctor," the Judge whispered to him, staring at the old man in horror "Please tell me that isn't…"

All the Doctor could do was take her hand, all the answer she needed.

Amy slowly started to make her way to the man as he practically begged her to come nearer, "Amy…" he breathed slowly when she took his hand, "Please. Please," and knelt beside him, getting a closer look at him.

"Rory…" she gasped, looking over her shoulder at him, "He's you."

The old man, the older Rory, gasped in pain, weakly falling back to the pillows he'd been straining to get up from to be closer to Amy, "Amy," he gave her one last smile, before he let out a long breath and his eyes drifted closed for the last time.

Amy stared at him a moment longer, before placing his hand that she had taken down, wiping her free hand across her cheek to brush away a tear.

"Someone, please, tell me what is going on," Rory looked around at them.

"I'm sorry, Rory," the Doctor looked at him sadly, "But you just died. This place is policed by Angels."

The Judge closed her eyes in realization, "So every time someone tries to leave, they get placed back here, back in time, in the same place."

"So this place belongs to the Angels?" Amy frowned, "They built it?"

"They more likely took it over," the Judge shook her head.

"Displacing someone back in time creates time energy and _that_ is what the Angels feed on," the Doctor agreed, he doubted that the Angels physically built this place, but the idea that this was their creation and plan was sound, "But, normally, it's a one-off, a hit-and-run."

"Keeping them all here…it would make it like a battery, a feeding ground for them."

"No, it's not a battery," the Doctor shook his head, growing serious and disgusted, "This place is a farm. How many Angels in New York?" he looked at River, knowing that would be the reason why Grayle took her, she was a detective and he clearly thought she had information on the Angels.

"It's like they've taken over every statue in the city," River swallowed.

"Yeah, the Angels take Manhattan because they can," the Doctor grumbled, "Because they've never had a food source like this one, the city that never sleeps."

"And surrounded by humans who never notice what's right in front of them," the Judge added.

"They're not…"

"Bright blue phone box from a prior decade in the middle of Cardiff," the Judge cut in, giving him a look, reminding him of what he himself had said about what humans noticed about things being right in front of them ages ago.

He had to nod at that.

They all spun around when they heard a loud crash sounding outside, "What was that?" Rory frowned.

"I don't know," the Doctor turned to him, "But I think they're coming for you."

"What does that mean? What is going to happen to me? What is physically going to happen?"

"Exactly what's already happened," the Judge sighed, "Rory…that was you," she nodded to the man on the bed, "He was taken back in time and lived it out, right in this room, where YOU are now. THAT man there…is the present you, he is what you will become. The Angels will send YOU back, perhaps 40 years ago, in this very room, and that man is what you will become."

"And will Amy be there?"

"Not till the very end, like now."

"How do you know?" Amy frowned.

"Because he was so pleased to see you again," the Doctor said softly, an emotion in his voice that they could all recognize as empathy, his gaze turning to the Judge for a moment. She gave him a gentle smile back, understanding, she…she knew that he'd felt more at their reunion in Torchwood than she had, because she'd known he was alive, and he hadn't known she was. HE had felt as the older Rory had, seeing his wife again for the first time in too long.

"Ok," Rory swallowed, "Well, they haven't taken me yet," he chuckled nervously, "What if I just run? What if I just get the hell out of here? Then that never happens."

"It's already happened, Rory," the Judge stressed, "You saw it, right there, the future happened right in front of your eyes. Time can't be changed like that and even if you try it will damage the fabric of reality."

"He's right…" River looked at them with wide, hopeful eyes.

"No, he isn't," the Doctor shook his head, agreeing with his wife.

"If Rory got out, it would create a paradox!"

"And it just might rip apart New York," the Judge reminded her.

Amy glanced at the window, hearing the crashing turning into a thudding outside, "What is that?"

"This is the Angels' food source," River continued to argue, "The paradox poisons the well. It could kill them all. This whole place would literally unhappen."

"It would be almost impossible," the Doctor shook his head.

"Loving the 'almost,'" she smirked, as though she'd won.

"Fine, then it would be completely impossible to do safely," the Judge told her, getting very displeased with all of this. She understood it was human nature to hope, but it was Time Lord nature to understand time and doing this…it would damage everything, even now, just the Angels being there was distorting time, "If we managed the slim chance of succeeding in doing that, the TARDIS could never come back here to this time or place or the entire thing would rip itself apart."

"To create a paradox like that takes almost unimaginable power," the Doctor pointed at the Judge, another reason they shouldn't do this, "What have we got? Eh? Tell me. Come on, what?"

Amy moved to Rory's side and took his hand, "I won't let them take him. _That's_ what we got."

Rory jumped, hearing the crashing outside getting louder and the Judge pushed past, moving to look out the window, "Whatever that thing is, it's getting closer," he mumbled.

"Well, I think it would take the Statue of Liberty a short while to make its way here," the Judge remarked, turning to give the Doctor a 'this is my point' look, "The Statue of Liberty is walking across New York and there's no mention of it in history. Humans, you don't notice a thing."

"Rory," the Doctor looked at him, "Even if you got out, you'd have to keep running for the rest of your life. They would be chasing you forever."

"Well, then," Amy straightened, "Better get started," before she pulled Rory to the doors, ignoring the Judge calling her to stop, and threw it open…only to see an Angel standing there, "Husband, run!"

Rory and Amy dashed past the Angel, the Time Lords hurrying after them, the Doctor with his sonic out, but another Angel joined the first at the door.

"I'm not sure this can work," the Doctor admitted.

"We both know it can't," the Judge reminded him, making River frown at that, at why they kept insisting that, "Come on," she took his hand and they managed to slide out of the apartment with River, into the hall.

They started to run down it, but the lights flickered and they found themselves surrounded the moment the sonic got the power back, "I can't keep doing this," the Doctor called.

"Any ideas?" River gasped, the three of them forced back to back as they kept their eyes locked on the statues to keep them from moving.

"A plan, a thing, anything would be lovely right now dear," the Judge agreed.

"Yeah, the usual," the Doctor squeezed her hand, "Run!"

They ducked under the arms of the statues and down the hall to the stairs. They ran into the railing, looking over the side only to see the Angels were scattered around the stairs, both below and above…but all of them were looking up, heading that way.

The Doctor pulled back and spun around, looking at the hall they'd come from and around the corridor for some other sort of escape, "Uh, ok, fire escape!" he called, leading them to the window beside them, shoving it open and helping the women out before joining them, all of them heading up towards the roof where they knew the Angels were heading.

They climbed as fast as they could, the Doctor taking the lead, River in the middle, with the Judge in the rear, the Time Lords wanting to make sure that they were safe on both ends. It was less likely that the Angels would follow them onto the fire escape, where they might be spied on by the eyes of those in other buildings, but on the roof they'd be safer. The Doctor wanted to be sure that, when they reached the roof, they weren't going to be falling into an ambush of some sort so he had gone first.

Though, in reaching the roof, the trio realized the Doctor going first was likely not the best thing that could have happened.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the Doctor demanded, half throwing himself over the side of the building and onto the roof at the sight that greeted him, Amy and Rory standing on the edge of the roof, across the way, holding each other.

"Changing the future," Amy smiled at Rory as the three of them ran towards them, trying to stop them, "It's called 'marriage,'" before letting themselves fall off the edge.

"What is WRONG with your humans Doctor?!" the Judge shouted, of all the humans in all the different time eras and all the different worlds…she was quite sure that the Doctor tended to find the ones that were the most rash, idiotic, and lacked all sense of self-preservation at all.

"Amy!" the Doctor looked over the edge, forced to watch them falling to the ground, "Rory! Amy!"

"Doctor!" River gasped behind them and they spun around to see that the air before them was starting to flicker, filling with orbs of light and energy, crackling around them, "What's happening?!"

The Doctor gaped at the sight of it all, "The paradox," he breathed, "It's working. The paradox is working!"

River flinched back as the light got brighter, the two Time Lords staring right at it, one in shock, the other in unease, moments before it all exploded around them.

~8~

Amy and Rory sat up with a gasp, finding themselves in the cemetery, in the present, the New York skyline just to the side of them, the TARDIS a short distance ahead of them.

"Where are we?" Rory looked around.

"Back where we started!" the Doctor cheered as he made his way to them through the gravestones, the Judge following slower behind him, her arms crossed over her purple plaid shirt, glancing around with a frown, "You collapsed the timeline. The paradox worked. We all pinged back where we belong."

The Judge slowly let her hands fall to her legs, rubbing her sides slightly, she couldn't help but feel like this was wrong, that the paradox…it was just…she knew the laws of time and she knew what would have happened, should have happened, because of what Amy and Rory had rashly done. This was not it, there had to be something more than they were aware of for it to play out like this instead.

"What, in a graveyard?" Rory frowned.

"This happened last time," Amy told him, before focusing on the Doctor, "Why always here?"

"Does it matter?" the Doctor laughed, the Judge rolling her eyes at that, he was always more willing to overlook the problems of a situation if it meant a happy end, "We got lucky! We could've blown New York off the planet."

"It should have been blown off the planet," the Judge countered, "I don't understand why it hasn't been," she shook her head, "But whatever it was, there was too much damage done to the past, we won't ever be able to go there in the TARDIS again."

The Doctor just sighed happily at that, "Oh, I could've lost you both," and stepped up to the Ponds, hugging them both, "Oh. Don't ever do that again."

"What did we do?" Rory laughed, "We fixed it. We solved the problem."

"Barely," the Judge corrected, "And possibly not at all," she added, looking around.

There HAD to be something they were missing. This was not what should have happened. Rory died in the past, they saw him do it. Even if they managed to create the paradox that would destroy the Angels, RORY would still have to be in the past, he would still have to die in the past to keep the paradox from destroying the entire world and not just New York. If Rory didn't die in the past then yes, a paradox would happen, but his death had become…something of an echo of a fixed point because of all the distortions. If Rory didn't die at some point in the past, then the whole of time should have started to fall apart like it did when River tried not to kill the Doctor.

The Doctor just laughed, too happy that it had seemingly worked out, and kissed the Ponds on the heads before he spun in a circle and headed for the TARDIS, the Judge glancing around once more before following him, thinking perhaps if she could run a scan on the monitors it could tell her what was so off about all this. She entered the box just as River stepped around from behind it with a bucket of water and some rags, handing one to the Doctor to try and wipe the smudges and smears off the outside of the box.

"It could do with a repaint," River remarked.

"We've been busy," the Doctor shrugged.

"Does the bulb on top need changing?"

"Just changed it."

"So, Rory and Amy, then."

"Yes, I know. I know."

"I'm just saying, they're going to get terribly bored, hanging round here all day."

"Doctor?" Amy called as she and Rory started to head over, able to see the Judge inside the box, frowning and squinting at the monitor.

"Next time, can we just go to the pub?" Rory offered a tired smile.

"I want to go to the pub right now," the Doctor agreed, beaming, "Are there video games there? I love video games."

"Doctor?" the Judge called from within the TARDIS, "You need to see this!"

The Doctor winked at the Ponds and stepped into the box, heading over to the console, moving beside her to see what she was doing, his left hand resting on the edge of the console while his right came to the small of her back, "What is it?"

"The time distortions…" the Judge pointed to the screen, to the symbols in Gallifreyan flying across it, "They're still active, there's still a link between 1938 and now."

He blinked and looked sharply at the monitor, "But…but that's impossible," he frowned, "If that's still active…then the only way to severe them is…"

"Is for everything that was trapped in 1938 to be returned to it," the Judged nodded solemnly.

"Rory!" the Doctor gasped and turned to run…

At the exact same moment that they heard Amy screaming for them from outside.

They ran out of the TARDIS, the Doctor nearly falling down when he skid to a stop at the sight of a lone Weeping Angel standing there, its arm outstretched, its finger pointed at Amy, who was staring at it, Rory nowhere to be seen.

"Where the hell did that come from?" River gasped as she appeared from behind the TARDIS where she'd been wiping the back of the box down.

The Doctor pulled the sonic out, scanning it, needing to be sure THAT was the last link to 1938, that there weren't any other Angels about, "It's a survivor," he swallowed, "Very weak, but keep your eyes on it."

"Where's Rory?" Amy's voice shook.

"Where was he last?" the Judge asked her.

"Just in front of me," Amy nearly sobbed, "He…he was looking at a tombstone with his name on it…"

The Judge closed her eyes and stepped up to Amy's side, stepped slightly past her to help stare down the Angel, the Doctor taking the hint to check the stone and moved to the other side of Amy, between her and the Angel, and looked at the stone. He felt his breath leave him at the sight of it, a stone marked for 'Rory Arthur Williams' who had died at the age of 82.

He looked up at Amy, tears in his eyes, "I'm sorry, Amelia. I'm so, so sorry."

"No," Amy shook her head, trying her best to keep from blinking, "No, we can just go and get him in the TARDIS. One more paradox."

"Will tear New York apart," the Judge reminded her.

"No, that's not true," Amy's face scrunched, "I don't believe you."

"I warned you," the Judge murmured, not quite sure who she was talking to exactly, "I said that it was impossible…"

"Mother," River sniffled, realizing now that the Judge had been right, "It's true."

"Amy?" the Doctor frowned as Amy started to move towards the Angel, "What are you doing?"

"That gravestone, Rory's," she swallowed hard, "There's room for one more name, isn't there?"

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor stared at her.

"Doctor…" the Judge whispered, "She wants to go with Rory."

The Doctor looked back and forth between Amy and the Angel, his mouth falling open, "Back away from the Angel," he started to plead, "Come back to the TARDIS! We'll figure something out!"

"The Angel, would it send me back to the same time, to him?" Amy asked, still moving forward.

"I don't know. Nobody knows."

"There's a chance," the Judge answered.

"Amy…" the Doctor shook his head.

The Judge slowly started to step to the side, closer to the Doctor, already knowing what was going to happen, she'd seen it happen before with him. There had been a few companions that had died, as he'd told Brian, those…the Doctor held it in, held up a front around others but the second he was able he always flew back to Gallifrey, to her, and collapsed in her arms in sobs, blaming himself, calling himself a monster for having put them in such a situation, useless for not having been able to protect them, pointless because he couldn't do a thing to help. It was a complex that he'd developed in his profession, he had to be the protector, the doctor, the one who helped and saved and each loss hit him personally, that he should have been better.

And with Amy being the little girl from five minutes ago, the little girl that he'd seen when he'd first regenerated, he was more attached to Amy and this, knowing that she was willingly going to her death, facing it down, that in a single instant Amy will have lived out her whole life in one instant…it would break his hearts.

"Well, then, I just have to blink, right?" Amy murmured.

"No!" the Doctor tried to step towards her but he felt frozen in place, feeling the helplessness setting in.

"It'll be fine," Amy promised, "I know it will. I'll…I'll be with him, like I should be. Me and Rory, together. Melody," she held her hand behind her to River.

"Stop it!" the Doctor begged, turning to River, "Just…just stop it!"

"Doctor…" the Judge breathed, moving beside him, putting an arm around him, though having to keep her eyes on the Angel.

"You look after them both," Amy asked her daughter, openly crying now as River took her hand, "And you be a good girl and you look after them."

"Amy please," the Doctor called as River gave River's hand a kiss, "You are creating a fixed time. I will never be able to see you again."

"I'll be fine," Amy stepped even closer to the Angel, "I'll be with him."

"Amy, please," the Doctor tried his best to keep his tears in now even as he leaned more on the Judge, "Just…come back into the TARDIS. Come on, Pond, please."

"Raggedy man," Amy sobbed, before spinning around to face him, "Goodbye."

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, Amy disappeared, the Angel having touched her.

The Judge closed her eyes as she sank to her knees, the Doctor's weight forcing her down as he collapsed, breaking down in sobs as Amy's name appeared on the gravestone with Rory's, having died at the age of 87. She wrapped her arms around him, her chin resting on his back as she gently rocked him back and forth. The Angel posed no danger now. The second that Rory had been sent back, the Angel's strength would have started to break down and diminish, the link with its power source being severed, it was truly a miracle (for Amy) that the Angel had had enough to take Amy as well, right now it was just a statue.

And right now, her husband was hurting, so she held him tighter, whispering soothing words in Gallifreyan as she just held him.

~8~

The Doctor was sitting on the stairs towards the halls in the TARDIS, silent, his eyes downcast, as the Judge and River got the controls of the TARDIS set and locked so that River could be on her way.

River glanced over at the Judge as, when she passed the Doctor, she stopped for a moment, just resting a hand on the Doctor's, crouching down a moment to look up into his eyes, giving him just a soft, empathetic smile, managing to draw a small one out of his as well. It hit her then, as small things had hit her in the past when she observed them as well, that she…would have no idea what to do. She didn't know how to comfort the Doctor in the middle of something like this, she would have no idea. She probably would have gone over to him and sat down next to him, tried to hug him or talk to him. But the Judge knew, she knew that wasn't what he wanted, that wasn't what would draw a smile from him. He needed someone in front of him, to remind him he wasn't alone, he needed a gentle hand on his, not arms wrapped around him as though they were trying to hold him together. He needed the empathy of someone who had lost everything and found something good and lost it again, who had had a bond with someone, like with a child, which was how he saw the humans (the most brilliant and curious children that just needed to be guided and cared for), and understood what it felt to lose them. He needed someone not trying to turn his attention but just put themselves in his gaze.

She wouldn't have done that, but the Judge had.

She watched as the Judge stood only after the Doctor placed his other hand on hers in thanks, and moved to the rest of the controls, making sure that everything was set, double checking.

"River," the Doctor spoke, pulling her attention back to him, "They were your parents. Sorry. I didn't even think."

"It doesn't matter," River tried to brush it off.

"Don't do that," the Judge told her quietly, knowing, without looking, that the Doctor had flinched at that, "Don't paint it like a child wouldn't care that their parents were gone," she explained just as softly.

River's eyes widened slightly, understanding, he was apologizing that her parents were gone, and her words would make it seem like…if the roles were reversed, that they shouldn't care that SHE was gone. It was both a slap in the face to the Doctor as a parent, to think that his children wouldn't care if he were gone, as well as to imply that HE shouldn't care that his children were gone.

"Of course it matters," he murmured, his voice cracking at that, making a stab of guilt fly through River at that, that she'd caused him harm when he'd only just managed a small smile seconds ago.

"What matters is this," River tried to save him some comfort, "Doctor, don't let this close you off. Don't push people away. M…mother wouldn't want that."

The Judge saw the Doctor glance at her and turned to River, "Would you like to travel with us River?"

She knew that River would say no, she knew that it wasn't the right time or situation, that the Doctor likely didn't actually want it to happen either. He felt guilty at the moment, for what happened and what this meant for River, he wanted to make it up to her. But it would hurt them all in the end if River came. The Doctor would be forced to see the reminder of the Ponds everywhere, River forced to see her and the Doctor together and working things out, and she would have to see the pain in both of them as it went on.

River seemed to realize that as well, "Maybe later," she offered quietly, "One psychopath per TARDIS, don't you think?" she glanced at the doors and back, "Ok, this book I've got to write, Melody Malone. I presume I send it to Amy to get it published?"

"Most likely," the Judge agreed.

River sighed, looking at the Doctor, already able to tell what the Judge likely had, he was going to push others away, push all others away, save the Judge, "I'll tell her to write an afterword. For you. Maybe you'll listen to her."

The Doctor sat there for a moment later, till River had stepped out the doors and the Judge had put the TARDIS back into the Vortex, when it hit him, "The last page!" he quickly started to dig through his pockets, trying to find the page he'd stuffed there, and pulled it out.

The Judge watched as he looked at the page in silence, "What does it say?"

He swallowed hard and held it up to her, "Read it to me?" he asked her softly and she realized he hadn't been reading it but staring, unable to bring himself to do it, to see what Amy's last words to him would be.

She nodded and stepped forward, taking the paper from him and walking back towards the console, turning to rest against it as she read, "Afterword, by Amelia Williams. Hello, old friend. And here we are, you and me, on the last page. By the time you read these words, Rory and I will be long gone. So know that we lived well and were very happy. And, above all else, know that we will love you always. Sometimes I do worry about you, though. I think, once we're gone, you won't be coming back here for a while and you might be alone, which you should never be. I know the Judge will be there with you, that was your deal wasn't it? But don't be alone, Doctor, don't push the rest of us away. And do one more thing for me. There's a little girl waiting in a garden," she smiled softly at that, "She's going to wait a long while, so she's going to need a lot of hope. Go to her. Tell her a story. Tell her that, if she's patient, the days are coming that she'll never forget. Tell her she'll go to sea and fight pirates. She'll fall in love with a man who'll wait 2,000 years to keep her safe. Tell her she'll give hope to the greatest painter who ever lived and save a whale in outer space. Tell her this is the story of Amelia Pond…and this is how it ends," she lowered the paper and looked at him, "Shall I set the course?"

He blinked and nodded, slowly starting to stand as she did so, "Will…will you come with me?"

She looked at him sadly, "I would love to Theta, you know that. But…" she gave him an apologetic look.

"But Amy didn't know who you were," he nodded sadly, "Neither she nor her younger self recognized you. Because you weren't there when she was a child."

She nodded, "I'm sorry."

He swallowed hard, "Don't be," he took a deep breath, "This…this is something I should do myself," he agreed with his words, "Will you be alright, on your own for a short while?"

She gave him a smile, "There's something I have to take care of too."

~8~

"I'm sorry Brian," the Judge murmured as she sat across from Brian on the sofa of the Pond home. It was barely a week after they'd left the man with the Ponds, for him, and he had just started to water the plants when she'd arrived, had asked to talk to him, had made him sit…and then told him what happened, trying her best to actually be gentle and understanding about it all. Because right now, it didn't matter if he was a human, he was a FATHER, he was a parent and he'd just lost his children.

Brian sat there, completely still, his head buried in his hands as he hunched over, his shoulders shaking from tears at what she'd told him.

She rubbed her legs as she sat there, feeling terrible, feeling uncomfortable…but…she knew that the Doctor would have come her if she hadn't. And for him to have to deal with this all over again? She wanted to spare him that. SHE would tell Brian what happened, because he deserved to know, parent to parent, and she knew better than anyone what it was like to live with the unknown and to wonder. She wasn't used to this though, to having to be the one to tell someone else that their child was gone, she didn't know how (or if) the Doctor did that with his past companions that had died. But she felt like she had to do it, she didn't know if she'd done it properly, if there was even a proper way to do that, but she had to try.

"They're…they're gone?" Brian shook his head as though he couldn't believe it.

"I'm sorry," was all she could repeat, "You deserved to know."

Brian sniffed deeply, about to ask her to tell him again how it happened, to try and make sense of it all…when there was a ring of the bell. He glanced to the front of the house and over to the Judge, "Is that…"

"It's not them or the Doctor," she answered, "Um…shall I?" she gestured to the front.

He nodded, "I can't," he told her.

She gave him a nod in return and got up to answer the door, to ask whoever it was to leave, because Brian wasn't fit to see anyone right now. However the look the man gave her when she opened the door and saw a tall man, mid-60s, standing there, in an old-fashioned suit and slightly gray hair, holding an envelope in one hand and a briefcase in the other, made her pause. It was like he was recognizing her from a story.

"Are…are you the…the Judge?" the man asked, a bit of a New York accent to him, which was odd to find given the location.

"How do you…"

"Anthony," he introduced himself, "Anthony Brian Williams. I um…I have a letter, from dad."

"From Rory?" the Judge blinked, knowing it likely sounded like a very stupid question, something she hated, but she had to be utterly and completely sure about this and not give Brian false hope or any more pain.

"Yes," Anthony smiled, "He and…and Amy, I think you call her here."

The Judge let out a breath at this shocking turn of events, and nodded, "Come in," she stepped to the side, allowing him to enter. She led him to the back room where Brian had his elbows resting on his knees, his fists pressed to his mouth, tears in his eyes though they weren't falling any longer.

"Brian?" the Judge called lightly, pulling his attention over, "There's someone to see you."

Brian frowned and sniffed, "But…this isn't my house. How did you know I was here?"

"This is for you," Anthony just smiled and handed him the old letter in his hand, yellowed paper but with a familiar handwriting on it.

"I don't understand…"

"Just…read it, Brian," the Judge offered him a small smile.

Brian took the letter, his eyes widening as he saw 'Dad' in Rory's script on the front and opened it quickly, his eyes devouring the message within, "Dear Dad. This is the difficult bit. If I've got this right, you're reading this letter a week after we left in the TARDIS. The thing is, we're not coming back. We're alive and well and…stuck in New York 50 years before I was born. We can't come home again. I won't ever see you again and it breaks my heart. I'm so sorry, Dad. I thought about this for years, and I realized there was one thing I could do…I could write to you. Tell you everything about how we lived, how, despite it all, we were happy. But before I do, I need you to know, you are the _best_ dad any son could have had, and for all the times I drove you mad and you drove me mad, and all the times I snapped at you…I'm sorry. I miss everything about you, especially our awkward hugs. I bought a trowel. We have a small yard. I garden. But one more important bit of business…the man who delivered the letter, Anthony, be nice to him cos he's your grandson. We finally adopted in 1946. Anthony Brian Williams. He can tell you everything. He'll have the family albums and I realize having a grandson who is older than you is way beyond weird, but I'm sorry. I love you, Dad. I miss you."

Brian read the letter once more, then again, before he looked up to where Anthony was standing beside the Judge, the man wearing the exact same expression his son always had whenever he was nervous and he knew, he just KNEW, this really was his grandson, this was his son's child. He slowly stood and walked over to Anthony, the Judge subtly stepping away to give them space.

Anthony cleared his throat and took a breath, holding out a hand to his younger-than-him-grandfather, "How d'you do, sir?"

Brian just shook his head, still stunned, tears gathering in his eyes again, before he just reached out and hugged Anthony tight.

The Judge smiled softly at that, tears in her own eyes as she watched the two men hug, before she quietly made her way out of the house and back to the TARDIS to go pick up the Doctor, her hearts feeling just a bit lighter at the knowledge that Brian had gotten his closure.

Now there was only one man left that she needed to look after and she could tell…he would be the more difficult to help heal from this.

A/N: I kind of wanted to have the end, the PS part, be the Judge reaching out to Brian. Just because she's seen humans in such a small light and hasn't really found anything 'worthwhile' in them, but this isn't about being human, it's about being a parent in the end ;) I also wanted to have the discussion between River and the Judge to really just hash out some of the things I think they'd need out in the open to continue going forward :)

Some notes on reviews...

I can say we might see a bit of Jealous-River with a future TL, but maybe not in the way you expect ;)

I'm definitely trying to get back to posting at my normal times, my work schedule's been all over the place so I never know when I'll get time to edit the chapters and it feels like every time I get a day off to try and get ahead something comes up and my time gets cut down :(

Lol, I got the reference, love the name ;)

Thanks! It was a typo, I went back and fixed it :)


	12. The Snowmen

A/N: Sorry! **Really important note** about the future of the stories for 2014 at the end of the chapter, in the next A/N, and an apology too.

~8~

The Snowmen

The Judge sighed as she tugged at her blouse, she truly hated human fashions, especially of any era before they stopped using the corset. It was a ridiculous and uncomfortable invention and she absolutely refused to wear it, that and the laughable bustle. Honestly, she couldn't understand why the humans seemed to gravitate to the wider hips and larger bums and pretty faces. Though she could admit it had to be a difference in culture, she and the Doctor, all the other Time Lords, were typically raised not to care about anything but what was on the inside, because they changed so often that the only things that remained the same were the memories and some core values. One day you could be with one of the prettiest faces ever and the next regeneration would see an old, warty, wizened witch face staring back at you. They hardly cared what they looked like on the outside because of that.

But these fashions were just cruel, they had to be a punishment on women, she was sure of it. She had been lucky though that the Doctor had seemed to deem her current outfit acceptable for the times instead of insisting on the two blasted instruments of dress. It was winter so it wasn't like a corset would truly be noticeable under winter clothing, and the bustle, well, luckily they were in the transition era where the bustle was falling out and those of the lower/common class were less expected to wear it. Currently she was strolling through the darkened alleys of Victorian London, her arm through the Doctor's. She'd somehow managed to keep her plaid theme going, much like the Doctor had kept the bowtie, her blouse being a red and black plaid one, tucked into a high-waisted black skirt that went to the ground. It was all relatively simple, something she was pleased about, she hated how complex some outfits could be. It was a testament to her time on Gallifrey, to her profession, to her life with her children, things had to be simple and quick to put on otherwise time was wasted.

The Doctor, on the other hand was wearing a darker, slightly tattered suit with an old top hat on, walking slightly hunched in what she had called his 'Scrooge stomp' given that it was nearly Christmas on Earth it was fitting. He was in a foul mood, had been since they'd come from New York and lost the Ponds. She had gone to pick him back up after she'd dealt with Brian and Anthony only for him to storm into the console room and set the box on a mystery tour. He hadn't even told her why he'd set it for that, what his plans were and she tried not to pry. She was disheartened to lose the Ponds, more so for his sake than her own. They had been with the Doctor longer, they had been his companions, she had only known them on and off and she tried to keep her distance those times, tried to keep them from growing as attached to her as they had the Doctor. She didn't want to give them another reason to have a hard time to let go.

She knew it devastated the Doctor that he had actually PLANNED to take the Ponds back, to take them to Earth and stop all this back and forth travel with them, to let them live out their lives. She knew that he regretted it now, that he'd even taken them on in the first place, that he hadn't just left them with Brian after the cubes had invaded like he'd planned to. Because he'd taken them for one more trip (always just one more trip in his mind) they'd been lost to the past. She had tried to be supportive, to not ask, to give him the time and freedom to do what he needed to heal.

She knew he would heal, he always did, it was just…this was the first real companion he'd lost to death since the war and it hit him harder. For a short while, she was sure, he'd convinced himself that he COULD take on companions and not have to worry about death, to worry that they would die. Rose hadn't died, Martha hadn't died, Donna had been saved in the end, the Ponds…the Ponds were the first real companions that had died. She knew that he just needed time and support and she was there now and she was trying to do her best by him, give him the silence when he didn't want to speak, being quiet when he needed her to listen, holding him when a memory hit him and he cried in her arms, or even giving him a laugh when he got too lost in thought. So she'd gone along with his latest plan, whatever he needed to get back on his feet.

What she got was not what she expected at all, not just it being Victorian London but what the Doctor had planned for after they realized where they were.

The TARDIS had taken them here and, as it turned out, this was also the time period that Vastra, Jenny, and Strax, a Silurian, human, and Sontaran that had come to help him at Demons Run and with Melody Pond lived as well. They were detectives it appeared, had wanted the Doctor's help and actually been surprised that he hadn't wanted to take part in their investigations. They couldn't seem to see just how hurt he was, had felt that he was being entirely serious about retiring from his life as the Doctor, sure that he would stop helping people, and were determined to try and draw him back in with mysteries and curiosities. They didn't understand it all. They didn't understand HIM. He needed time, he needed to sort himself out, he just needed a moment to grieve properly. He was a doctor, always and forever, he'd been such for too many centuries to be able to just turn it off, but he needed to be able to come back to it on his own terms. They didn't understand that, but she did. When the Doctor would come back to Gallifrey, it was never for just an hour or two, especially not when he'd lost a companion, it could take days, weeks even, for him to feel healed enough to be brave enough to venture out and start again.

She knew how to handle him when he was like this, patience meant the world. Pushing him and pushing him, forcing him to remember the curiosity that had dragged him and his prior companions into their adventures wouldn't help, if anything it would just make it hurt worse and longer. He needed to feel that curiosity come to him naturally again, without others trying to prove something to him. What Vastra and the others were doing was trying to throw the adventures in front of him and all it did, in them trying to draw out his curiosity, was to remind him that they thought his curiosity was needed to go into adventures. All it did was force him to think about all the times he'd LET his curiosity get the better of him and put his companions and the world in danger, like with the Pandorica and so many other times. He needed to reach a point where he could feel curious and not feel guilty for it, and not feel like he was about to put the world at danger for it.

He just needed time.

So she would give him it. And she would do whatever she had to do to make him feel comfortable, even if it meant walking around in a less than comfortable blouse and a skirt that was clumping with snow on the bottom. It would be worth it, it already had been. She'd suggested that they go out for a walk with him when Vastra and Jenny and Strax had called him out "for an emergency." He hadn't wanted to go but her conscience wouldn't allow her to ignore the call. She'd met Vastra briefly and, from what she could tell of the lizard woman, she was…acceptable. She was logical and reasonable and a little more intelligent than the 'apes' as she liked to call the humans (something that made Jenny roll her eyes). She was more accepting of Vastra, less of Jenny, even less of Strax who…she was considering writing a thesis…might possibly be some sort of missing link for humans, that stage of evolution between Neanderthal and human given his humanoid structure but lacking intelligence. Still, if Vastra was calling them, then she had assumed it was more serious than it had ended up being. The walk had gotten a smile out of the Doctor though, when he saw her outfit he had given her a small fond one, so the outfit was worth it. Now, though, the smile was gone due to the Pater Noster detectives and their call to him.

Now they were walking back to their dwellings through the snow, the Doctor unusually silent as they went but it wasn't quite so unnatural to her. She could hear the volumes he spoke in his silences, how the different types of it meant different things to him. Right now he was just tired and grouchy from his once good mood being taken away. He just wanted to go home, likely have some tea, sit before a little fire, and just relax, just let his mind wander. Perhaps even have some conversation to keep the thoughts drifting too far into dangerous territory.

They had just stepped past a snowman with an odd face and a young brunette woman in a red dress when the woman called out to them, "Did you make this snowman?"

The Judge paused and glanced back, "We just walked past you," she reminded the girl, there was no way they could have built it if they'd walked from an opposing direction.

"Well if you didn't, who did?" the girl continued, "Cos it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared, from nowhere."

The Doctor stopped at that, which brought a small smile to the Judge's face, "Careful dear," she murmured, but she could see him already turning to look back at the snowman as well. THAT was what he needed, an innocent curiosity, not something from someone trying to bait him or draw him into something, just a genuine question.

The Doctor glanced at the Judge, squeezing the arm linked through his before he led her back to the snowman, pulling out Amy's reading glasses to place on his nose so he could examine the snow more efficiently, "Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen."

The Judge hummed at that, she could feel a slight telepathic resonance in the snow as well. Time Lords, being telepathic creatures, could tap into other telepathic features and traits in other things as well, like hearing an Ood song or sensing something like this.

"What, snow that can remember?" the girl nearly snorted, "That's silly."

"What's wrong with silly?" the Doctor didn't bother to look at her, focusing on the snow.

"Nothing. Still talking to you, ain't I?" she smirked.

The Judge raised an eyebrow at that, "I think that should be the reverse," she remarked, "WE are still talking to YOU."

"You think I'M the silly one?" the girl laughed.

"You're only human," the Judge countered, though it was more than a bit true. She was trying, she really was, to see what the Doctor saw in the humans but she just…couldn't. She knew why, she knew it was more than just thinking them to be nearly children in the grand spectrum of the universe, but she pushed the thought aside, this was not the time to think about her issues with humans, this was a time where the Doctor needed healing more.

The Doctor slowly took off the glasses and looked over at the girl, "What's your name?"

"Clara," she answered.

"Nice name, Clara," he offered, "You should definitely keep it."

"Should she?" the Judge turned to him, "It's quite a lot to live up to. Meaning 'bright.' Can be an awful lot for people like her to try and be clever, never ends well either."

"Oi!" Clara crossed her arms, "What's that supposed to mean? 'People like me?'"

"Humans," the Judge clarified.

"And that is our cue to leave," the Doctor took the Judge's hand once more and started to lead her off, "Goodbye!" he called to Clara as they left.

"Where are you going?" Clara followed after them a few strides, her hands on her hips, "I thought we were just getting acquainted."

"Those were the days," the Doctor sighed, not bothering to stop walking.

"You know," the Judge began, "It IS alright to be curious Doctor."

"I know," he sucked in a deep breath, reaching a carriage that was waiting for them at the end of the alley, across the street, "I just…can't. Not now."

The Judge nodded and patted his arm with her free hand, the Doctor opening the door to help her in before getting into the carriage with her.

"How refreshing to see you taking an interest again," Vastra's voice sounded from a small horn-like device sticking out of the top of the carriage. The both would have preferred not to have to deal with Vastra, especially not after the little stunt she had pulled to get him to come visit her and the others, but the carriage was on loan to them by Vastra and it was expected that she'd talk whether they listened or not, "Was she nice?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes at that, "I just spoke to her."

"And made your usual impact, no doubt."

"No, no impact at all. Those days are over."

"Doctor you could simply walk into a room, silent as a mouse, and make an impact," the Judge gave him a soft smile, especially when she saw him give her the first beam he'd made since the Ponds and a small wink at her for good measure. It was a leftover from the start of their marriage, she didn't really compliment him often, sometimes she was more inclined to remark on his intelligence in relation to how the humans and time around them were affecting him. So a genuine compliment, well, she was glad to know that it could still make him smile.

"You can't help yourself," Vastra agreed, "It's the same story, every time. And it always begins with the same two words."

"She'll never be able to find me again, she doesn't even have the name Doctor," the Doctor grumbled, his smile starting to fall from his face as he recalled they weren't exactly alone, "What two words?"

He nearly jumped when a thump sounded from above them and a panel of the carriage fell down, Clara appearing, hanging upside down, her hair all around her, "Doctor? Doctor who?"

The two Time Lords looked at each other and then back at Clara.

~8~

"I don't believe this is one of your more brilliant moments Doctor," the Judge remarked as she stood in the middle of an alley, her arms crossed, looking at the carriage that was rocking back and forth as Clara, who had been locked inside, tried to break out.

Apparently the Doctor had panicked (quite a silly thought given he could stare a Dalek in the eyestalk and hardly flinch) and decided the best course of action at the current moment would be to lock Clara away till he'd worked out what to do with her. Unfortunately, the moment he had set foot out of the carriage, he'd felt the telepathic layer of the snow was that much stronger where they were, stationed just across the street from 'The Great Intelligence Institute,' which Strax had taken to observing through futuristic binoculars. The Doctor had chosen a more 'close-up' approach and was crouched in the snow, sifting it through his fingers while she watched on, both keeping an eye on him and making sure Clara didn't actually succeed in breaking out of the carriage.

"They've taken samples from snowmen all over London," Strax lowered the binoculars and turned to face them, "What do you suppose they're doing in there?"

"This snow is new," the Doctor murmured instead, looking at the snow, "Possibly alien. When you find something brand new in the world, something you've never seen before, what's the next thing you look for?"

"A grenade!" Strax cried, which did make the Doctor turn to give him an incredulous look.

"The point of entry?" the Judge guessed, not having any better a clue than Strax apparently did. She didn't usually concern herself with humans much, how was she to know what they'd do or what they should look for when they were dealing with Earth. If it was Gallifrey, well they would all have been aware, some sort of seed of concern spreading from one person to the next, through each person till they all were aware something had shifted. Even if no one knew exactly what it was, they'd have some sort of idea where it originated, where to look, where to avoid.

"A profit," the Doctor stood, shaking off his hand from the snow.

"A pro_phet_ or a pro_fit_?" the Judge shook her head, both could work. If it was something that could be controlled by someone, they could use it to try and make others believe them and listen to them. Similar, she believed, to a man Lucius, that the Doctor had met in Pompeii. Equally though, it could be used to make a profit out of something, if they used it to their benefit in a more monetary way.

"Profit," the Doctor began to rub his forefinger and thumb together in the symbol for cash, "That's Victorian values for you!"

"I suggest a full frontal assault with automated laser monkeys, scalpel mines and acid!" Strax straightened, his military background showing.

"And what would that accomplish Strax?" the Judge gave him a look. She had found that instantly disagreeing with Strax tended to make him argue his point all the more. But question him? The potato dwarf would stutter and realize just how daft he sounded…as he was now.

Strax blinked, looking between the Doctor and Judge, before focusing on the Doctor, seeing that he seemed reluctant to do anything whereas the Judge was more questioning why he'd chosen those tools, "Couldn't we at least investigate?"

The Doctor shook his head, "It's none of our business."

"Not yet anyway," the Judge murmured.

"What was that?" the Doctor looked at her, genuinely not having heard her.

"Nothing," the Judge offered him a smile, bring up the fact that he likely would get sucked into this one and he'd fight all the more not to. And she didn't want to do anything that would risk him fighting against the healing.

"Sir," Strax cut in just as the Doctor moved to ask her again, "Permission to express my opposition to your current apathy?"

"Permission granted," the Doctor waved him off.

"Sir, I am opposed to your current apathy."

The Judge glanced back at the carriage, hearing Clara's shouts for release growing louder.

"Thank you, Strax," the Doctor strode closer to Strax, "And if ever I'm in need of advice from a psychotic potato-dwarf, you'll certainly be the first to know."

"Please tell me you're not being serious," the Judge looked back at the Doctor, crossing her arms more, "You're not actually considering listening to a Sontaran now are you? It's bad enough you listen to the humans…"

"The humans really aren't that bad," he tried to argue.

She gave a soft roll of her eyes but said no more. She knew he loved the humans very much but she also knew that bringing up humans too much would remind him of the Ponds and the last humans that he'd lost.

"But if the snow is new and alien, shouldn't we be making some attempt to destroy it?" Strax continued to lament, "Be reasonable!"

"It is not our problem," the Doctor repeated, "Over a thousand years of saving the universe, Strax, you know the one thing I learned? The universe doesn't care."

"The universe CAN'T care Doctor," the Judge sighed, "It's not an all-powerful god, it's not fate or destiny, it has no consciousness, it's just…space. It literally cannot care what you do or don't do or what happens to you or anyone else. It's like a box that has puppies in it, it's just a box with stuff in it."

"Well then we need to care about what's going on right now," the Doctor determined, pointing to the carriage just as Strax began to smile and open his mouth to praise him for coming around, "Because we have a problem of our own to worry about..."

"Let me out!" Clara shouted as the Doctor made his way towards the carriage, opening the door enough for Clara to nearly fall out before she scrambled back to the other end of the door as the Doctor moved to get in, sitting across from her.

"Apologies for his rudeness," the Judge offered Clara an apologetic smile as she moved to the doorway, blocking the way in case Clara tried to get out that side, "I haven't been with him long enough to get him properly trained again."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at that, "Don't worry," he tried to reassure Clara as well, "No one's going to hurt you."

The Judge frowned when she saw Clara gaping at her, but not exactly at her, "Alright there?"

"What is that thing?" Clara breathed, making the Time Lords look over to see her staring at Strax as he stood a little ways behind the Judge.

"Silence, boy!" Strax glared.

"Girl, Strax," the Judge shook her head.

"That's Strax," the Doctor told Clara, "And as you can see, he's easily confused."

"Silence, girl," Strax repeated, "Sorry, lad."

"Lady," the Judge corrected.

"Sontaran," the Doctor continued, "Clone warrior race, factory produced, whole legions at a time. Two genders is a bit further than he can count."

"Dear, should you really be saying all that?" the Judge gave him a look.

"Yes, do not discuss my reproductive cycle in front of enemy girls!" Strax agreed, "It's embarrassing!"

"Not quite what I meant Strax," the Judge sighed, before nodding at Clara, silently reminding the Doctor that she was a human and he'd just rambled off about aliens in front of her.

"Who are you?" Clara frowned at them.

"It doesn't matter because you're about to forget that you ever met me or my lovely wife," the Doctor stated, Clara's gaze snapping to the Judge, to her hands, likely in search of a ring, and then back and forth between them, "We'll need the worm Strax."

"Sir," Strax nodded, turning to leave, not quite caring about whatever sort of revelation the fact that the Doctor was married was.

"You'll need the what?" Clara tried to peek out after him, "The worm? What worm?"

"It's called a Memory Worm," the Judge told her, not seeing the point in keeping that from Clara if the girl was just going to forget everything in a moment or two, "Let it touch you and you forget the last hour."

The Doctor looked over as Strax came back but just stood there and looked at the Doctor blankly, "Where is it?"

"Where's what, sir?" Strax blinked.

"I sent you to get the memory worm."

"Did you? When?" and then he noticed Clara sitting there, "Who's he? What are we doing here!?"

The Judge closed her eyes a moment, realizing what happened, and pointed up, "Look Strax, snow," Strax grinned and instantly looked up, watching the few flurries that were still drifting to the ground, distracted, much like a child, which made the Judge shake her head and focus on the Doctor again, "I doubt he used the gauntlets," she remarked dryly, muttering under her breath about children and mittens.

"Why would I need gauntlets?" Strax looked over at that, "Do you want me to get the memory worm?"

"This is going to be a long night," the Judge grumbled, but the Doctor just hopped out of the carriage and headed around the side of the carriage, trying to find where Strax had put the memory worm.

"Strax!" the Doctor shouted, turning with an empty jar in his hands, "It got out?!"

"Well what did you expect dear?" the Judge crossed her arms, Clara slowly creeping out of the carriage beside her, "Clearly it had to have struck Strax to make him forget and if he had it in his hand without the gauntlets, then he'd have dropped it and forgotten about it."

"Strax," the Doctor gave him a look.

Strax pouted as much as a Sontaran could but started to make his way around the carriage trying to find the worm, even going so far as to get onto his hands and knees and crawl under the carriage to try and find it.

"Can you see it?" the Doctor called after a moment.

"I think I can hear it," Strax reported.

The Judge shook her head at that and looked over to see Clara was actually STILL there despite the fact that they had both been focused on Strax and had given her ample time to run away…and that wasn't quite living up to her 'bright' name if she hadn't taken that chance to escape, "Still here?"

Clara shrugged, "I know what's going to 'appen next, and it's funny."

"What's funny?" the Doctor spun around to face her, pouting himself at the insinuation that this was all rather laughable than serious. He was trying to be serious!

But Clara just smirked and nodded towards Strax, "Your little pal, for a start. Ugly little fella, isn't 'e?"

"Enormously," the Judge agreed.

"Oi," the Doctor pointed a warning finger between them, "He gave his life for a friend of mine once."

"This same friend that tried to kill you and then marry you?" the Judge smirked slightly, lifting an eyebrow at him.

She wasn't…entirely comfortable with River Song, she doubted she would ever be 100 percent comfortable around the woman, if not because she'd tried to seduce the Doctor then because she'd nearly succeeded in killing him. She was…content at the moment, she and River had come to a sort of understanding the last time she saw the woman, but she knew that version of her was near the end of her timeline, nearer to the Library, more mature and having seen more than her younger selves had. She didn't know which River they'd run into next, if they even did, and she wouldn't know if it would be a younger River and how THAT River would react to her, being so fresh from the Pyramids and from the realization that the man she fancied was taken. She supposed she'd have to wait and see, but it didn't alter the fact that, because of that, she would never be 100 percent resolved when it came to River Song.

…but that wouldn't stop her from trying to tease the Doctor about it slightly.

"'ow come 'e's alive then?" Clara questioned, not even about to ask how someone could murder then marry someone.

"Another friend brought him back," the Doctor answered with a huff, turning to kick the bottom of the carriage softly, "I'm not sure all his brains made the return trip!"

"Neither am I," Clara murmured.

"I can see it!" Strax gasped suddenly.

"Ooh!" the Doctor grinned, starting to lean over the carriage to try and see it, "Can you reach it? Have you got it?"

"…got what, sir?" Strax asked.

"Please tell me he didn't let the worm touch him _again_," the Judge sighed, rubbing her head, for all their claims that the Sontarans were a mighty empire…she was having a hard time seeing how they'd gotten to that point. They were SO dim!

"Oh I think 'e did," Clara smirked, stepping forward and yanking a pair of dark, three-fingered gloves off the side of the carriage, "Because _these_ are the gauntlets, aren't they?"

"Sir!" Strax cried as the Doctor glared at the gloves, "Emergency! I think I've been run over by a cab!"

"Oh Strax just get out from under there," the Judge rolled her eyes as the Doctor yanked the gloves out of Clara's hands and put them on himself.

"Judge?" the Doctor glanced at her, nodding to the carriage as he held up one of his gloved hands. She nodded and moved to pull a glass jar out to contain the worm as Strax wiggled out from under the carriage.

"Judge?" Clara repeated, frowning at the woman in confusion, "What, are you an actual judge?"

"He's an actual Doctor," the Judge shrugged, "As hard as that may be to believe at times."

"Oi!" the Doctor called as he made his way to the other side of the carriage, peering down in search of the worm.

"But Judge what?" Clara continued, "What's your last name?"

"Haven't got one," the Judge moved to the Doctor's side, "At least not one we can tell you," they were forbidden to really tell others their names, their families knew their names, some close friends, mostly on Gallifrey though they used their titles more often than not. Off world, no one was to know their names. She was well aware that River Song, somehow, knew the Doctor's he'd told her so. They were both under the impression that the future had been created into a paradox with that. They HAD to tell River the Doctor's name because she needed to know it when she was in the Library and, when she was in the Library, she would create the future of telling the Doctor his name and forcing him to tell her in the future, because she needed to know it then and...it was really just a very complicated paradox.

"There!" the Doctor shouted, making the women jump as he dove for the carriage, popping up a moment later with a squirming, plump, rather large white worm in his hands, "There you go. One touch and you lose about an hour of your memory. Let it bite you and you could lose decades," he turned to the Judge as she opened the jar, being sure to hold it from the bottom as he shoved the worm into it…before he noticed Clara, "And you're STILL here."

Truly, they were more distracted by the worm than they should have been but Clara was still not running.

"I don't understand 'ow the snowman built itself," Clara remarked, "I'll be sure to 'not be 'ere' when you've explained all this."

The Doctor eyed her for a moment longer, a little impressed with her curiosity, "Clara who?"

"Doctor who?" she countered, guessing that, if the Judge couldn't say who she was and the Doctor was her husband than he likely couldn't say who he was either.

"Oh, dangerous question."

"What's wrong with dangerous?"

"Everything," the Judge cut in, giving them both a look as they started grinning, "_Everything_ is wrong with 'dangerous,'" she shook her head, "Humans," she muttered, "You're worse than HIM when it comes to ignoring warning signs."

The Doctor actually chuckled at that, knowing that, despite her words, she didn't have quite so much bite to them, "The snow emits a low level telepathic field..." he began to explain to Clara.

But Clara was focused on something just to her right, in the alley around the corner from where the carriage was parked, "My snowman..."

"…seems to reflect people's thoughts and memories and because it's unusual, somehow it carries a previous shape and..."

"Clara?" the Judge interrupted again, seeing her starting to point as she stared, wide-eyed around the corner, "What is it?"

"It's…it's impossible," she muttered, glancing at them, "It's my snowman!" she hurried the few steps into the next alley and pointed more firmly at it, the Time Lords rushing to see what she was pointing at and there, indeed, was the lump of a snowman standing there, the same dark expression on its face as the one just outside the pub they'd passed.

"Ah!" the Doctor started to step towards it, "Interesting. Well, were you thinking about it?"

"Yes," Clara nodded…

And then a second one popped up right beside the first.

"Then you should probably STOP doing that," the Judge remarked, blinking at the second.

But the warning went unheard as a third popped up as well. They turned, backing away, moving to hurry back to the carriage, only for more and more snowmen to appear, blocking their way.

"Clara, stop thinking about the snowmen!" the Doctor ordered as they began to actually move, the snowmen drawing closer and closer, surrounding them, "Get down!" he grabbed their arms and pulled the two women down with him as the snowmen opened their mouths wider and hissed out icy breath.

"Clara you've got to stop thinking about the snowmen!" the Judge told her, "A telepathic field feeds off thoughts!"

"I don't understand," she shook her head.

"_You_'re caught in their telepathic field," the Doctor answered, cutting off what he was sure to be a remark from the Judge about what was there to not understand about the statement, "They're mirroring you. The more you think about them, the more they appear."

"If she can't stop thinking about them," the Judge glanced around, "Then she needs to think about them stopping."

"Yes!" the Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed to her, before focusing on Clara again, "Imagine them melting, picture it, picture them melted!" Clara closed her eyes tightly, her face scrunching in what the Time Lords were hoping was her actually doing as she was told and imagining them melting…only to be doused in a shower of cold water as the snowmen melted instantly, "Well, very good, very, very good!"

"She couldn't have imagined them melting into warm water?" the Judge muttered under her breath, making the Doctor laugh as she stood and shook her arms out to try and get the rather cold water off her.

"Is that going to 'appen again?" Clara panted, shaking, and not from the icy water she was hit with.

"If it does, you know what to do about it," the Doctor smiled reassuringly.

But Clara smirked victoriously in return, "Unless I forget."

The Doctor blinked at that, not having realized it, and closed his eyes, starting to shake his head, "No, no, nope, no," he stepped towards Clara and took her arm, starting to lead her towards the carriage, the Judge after him, "Don't come looking for us, forget about us. You understand?"

Strax scrambled onto the driver's seat as Clara was half pushed into the carriage, "What about the snow?" she asked, "Shouldn't we be warning people?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Not our problem," and slammed the door shut, locking Clara in, "Merry Christmas!" he called, turning to Strax, "Take her back where we found her."

"Sir," Strax gave a bodily bow and snapped the reins to send the horses off.

The Doctor let out a long breath and turned to face the Judge, "Don't give me that look, please," he half-begged her, seeing her small smile, interpreting it as disappointment in his actions, in his refusal to help. He knew what she must be thinking about him, hadn't had the hearts to actually open his mind enough to check and hear it for himself, but he could tell, she had to be sad that he was acting like this.

But the Judge just shook her head and walked over to him, taking his hands, "It's been…a long day, a trying day," she offered instead, "How about we just head home, and have some tea before the fire?"

He started to smile at that, feeling his hearts lighten just slightly. No matter how many times she regenerated, and no matter how business like she had to be most times, she was terrible at keeping emotions like irritation and disappointment out of her voice, and he heard neither in it just then, "I'd like that," he nodded, squeezing her hand and dropping one so they could walk off, neither seeing Clara get out on the other side of the carriage and start to follow them.

They walked down a small road, past a park and to a quaint little house at the end of the next street, stepping up to the dark blue door with a silver knocker and stepping into it, unaware of Clara snooping to the window and watching them move to the parlor where they lit a fire and sat down to talk in their little home.

~8~

Clara stood before a door, a dark blue door, just…staring at the round silver knocker on the middle of it. She glanced back at the people walking around the streets and back at the knocker. She took a breath, shaking her head from her thoughts, and reached out to knock…only for the door to open and reveal the Judge standing there on the other side with a soft smile.

"I saw you pacing in front of the house for the last ten minutes," the Judge offered, "I gave you five more of standing before the door before I decided to check if you were still here."

Clara blinked at her, "Hello," she offered, completely out of her depth with what to really say to the woman. She HAD been pacing the house for ten minutes so far, and she had been standing at the door another five. Clearly the woman had been aware of her strange behavior and she was both mortified that she'd hesitated that long and been seen being so hesitant and a little relieved this was being gotten out of the way.

"Hello," the Judge greeted back, before eyeing her, noting a difference in her accent from just how she said 'hello' as she'd been missing the 'h' sound the other night, her new accent was slightly more posh sounding, "Might I ask what you're doing here?"

"Yes," Clara stated, before realizing how that sounded, "I mean…I need your help. Yours and…and your husband's."

"What sort of help?"

"I…I think there's something more to the snow than the snowmen," Clara stated seriously.

The Judge's smile started to fall, "Come with me, but be quiet. The Doctor's sleeping."

Clara nodded and stepped into the house after her, moving to the side to allow the Judge to shut the door before following her through the house. They paused at an open archway to a study, the Doctor visible, sleeping on an armchair, a book open on his chest, some round spectacles on his nose as he dozed before a fire. The Judge smiled slightly at him, putting a finger to her lips and leading Clara off to the back, to the kitchen…and then through it to the backdoor.

Clara hesitated a moment as the Judge walked outside, not quite sure what was going on, but followed the Judge outside and to the middle of a small garden in the back of the home. Well, it would have been a garden if not for the snow and frost on the ground. Still, it was a lovely little area and she could imagine it filled with flowers once the weather was warmer. She stopped short though, nearly walking into the Judge as the woman came to a halt. She watched curiously as the Judge looked around and picked up a small curved hand fork from a small box beside an empty flowerbed. The Judge just stood straight and reached up, hooking the curve of the fork over something and pulling down.

Clara's eyes widened as she saw a ladder appear before her eyes, literally pulling down out of thin air to the ground, "Where did that come from?" Clara gaped.

The Judge gave her a look as she tossed the little fork away and moved behind the ladder to the other side of it to face her, "You saw snowmen come to life and melt before your eyes, and a walking baked potato dressed as a butler…and you find THIS odd?"

"Good point," Clara nodded, stepping closer to the ladder, "What do I do, just…grab on?"

The Judge shrugged, "Unless you'd rather be left here."

"Left here how?" Clara frowned, grabbing onto the ladder with a hand and stepping onto the bottom rung beside the Judge's foot, only for her question to be answered a moment later as the Judge knocked on the side of it and the ladder rose into the air. Clara gasped and clung to it as she left the ground, till the air rippled around her and she could see a platform behind her.

The Judge maneuvered her way around to the platform and stepped on, helping Clara after her, "Hope you're ready for a bit of a climb," she remarked, lifting the bottom of her skirt slightly and starting to climb up a rather tall spiral staircase beside the platform.

Clara looked up for a moment before glancing over the side. She could see the street she was up so high already. She waved a bit at the people, but they just kept walking, "Invisible staircase," she murmured, shaking her head and hurrying after the Judge, but after only a handful of steps she realized they were already quite a ways up, "How did we get up so high so quick?"

"The staircase is taller on the inside," the Judge responded just as they reached the top of it, to a layer of what looked like fog or cloud, with the TARDIS, looking quite a bit worse for the wear, sitting before them, "There we are."

"What…what is this?" Clara hesitated to follow her onto the cloud, looking down at it as though she might fall through the vapors, "What is this made of? Is it safe?"

"Safe enough for now," the Judge called, already at the door to the box, and trying to search her pockets for the key she knew she had somewhere on her. She was truly starting to think that the Doctor had played a trick on her and replaced her pockets with black holes or bottomless pits, she could never find anything she put in there. How he did it with his bigger-on-the-inside pockets were beyond her. She glanced back to see Clara comically gripping the platform as she tested out the cloud with a toe of her boot, "It's rather dense vapors Clara," she called, turning fully to put her hands on her hips, "And clearly it is quite solid if I'm standing on it perfectly fine. You're failing to live up to your name you know."

"Oi!" Clara pouted, making a show of stepping off the platform and onto the cloud, hoping the woman couldn't hear her heart racing from the slight fear that still coursed through her at the thought of falling through the cloud. Her pout though slowly morphed into confusion and shock when she saw the bright blue telephone box behind the Judge, who had turned back to try and find the key, "Why do you have a box on a cloud?"

"You're wondering why instead of how or what it is?" the Judge mumbled.

"Well, it's a box," Clara shook her head, "That's the what. And you said the vapor was solid, so that's how…I don't know the WHY though."

The Judge blinked and looked back at Clara, "A human that actually pays attention. Interesting."

"Why do you do that?" Clara stepped closer, "Call me a 'human' like you aren't one," the Judge gave her a look and her eyes widened as she realized what the Judge was imply, "But you…you look human."

"You look Time Lord," she countered, giving up on finding her key and instead reaching up to the top of the box to find the spare.

"And that's what you're called, a Time Lord?"

"I would think that would have been a bit obvious."

Clara's eyes narrowed at that as the Judge got the key and began to unlock the box, "Why are we even going into your box? It's just got a telephone in it, doesn't it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"It says telephone," she repeated.

The Judge sighed and looked at her, "Clara, please do try and use the few clever thoughts that humans are capable of having and tell me, if this were just a telephone box, would it be parked on a cloud that can only be reached by an invisible staircase?"

Clara opened her mouth…and promptly closed it, shaking her head, "No."

"Exactly," the Judge turned back, "This…is our ship," she opened the doors and stepped in, the lights turning on as she snapped her fingers, leaving Clara gaping in the doorway, "This is the TARDIS," she moved to the console, the new console room.

It had changed, the Doctor had changed it after they lost the Ponds. It appeared more mechanical now, more like a machine, with the names of all the Doctor's companions, written in Gallifreyan, on small panels above the rotor that spun around as the ship moved. The console was more pristine, more like a pilot's controls than random bits and bobs here and there and looking like a child's creation. There was even a second set of controls around the railings that surrounded the console, with a seat cut into the middle of the outer edges, some staircases in the back that led down or up, and all rather very impressive to a human she was sure. Though she hadn't really even bothered to look over at Clara's awed expression, more intent to find out if there really was something else going on with the snow.

She wasn't…she wasn't quite sure why she was doing it. She didn't particularly care for the humans, she didn't want them dead though. But still, she knew they were important to the Doctor and even though he had 'retired' she knew he wouldn't want them dead either. She would be the first to admit that she didn't see the point in them, but perhaps…perhaps if she tried to save them she would see what the Doctor loved about them. Perhaps she'd understand why he KEPT saving them, why he kept choosing them.

"It…" Clara breathed, "It's…" the Judge looked up just as Clara dashed outside and hurried around the box, seemingly having forgotten all her qualms and fears about the cloud to do so. She ran back in, staring at the Judge, "It's smaller on the outside!"

"Might want to reverse that for the Doctor," she remarked, turning on the monitors, "He prefers 'It's bigger on the inside.'"

"I don't understand," Clara entered cautiously, moving closer to the console, "How is this possible? Is it magic? Is it a machine?"

"I thought I said it was a ship before," the Judge muttered dryly.

"Yeah but I thought you were just barmy," Clara admitted, "Truly? A ship?"

"Mhmm," the Judge nodded, turning to Clara as she stood on one of the back steps, "I didn't take you here to admire the view of the TARDIS Clara, I brought you here to talk without waking the Doctor or being spotted by whoever put the telepathic field on the snow."

"Oh," Clara nodded, focusing on the Judge, "Right, yes…sorry."

The Judge rubbed her hips and looked at Clara a long while, "It's good you came to me though," she added, "To the Doctor and I. If you'd found Vastra she'd probably be giving you her silly one-word test."

"Who give me what?" Clara blinked, confused.

"Never mind," the Judge waved it off, taking a breath, "You followed the Doctor and I to our house, didn't you? That's how you knew where to come?"

"I did," Clara nodded, "Sorry about that, about barging in it was just…I didn't know who else to turn to. The snow…I think there's something more to it than just that telepathic field."

"So you said," the Judge remarked.

"Look, I just wanted to ask for your help," Clara continued, "If this snow is a danger well…I…I'm a governess most of the time. There are children in my care and…I worry for them. For their safety. If there is something wrong with this snow, I need to know, I need to protect them. Franny, er, Francesca, she's…she's been having this terrible nightmares about her former governess and it only started after the snow began to fall. I'm concerned that she's been caught in the field as well."

The Judge nodded slowly, understanding that, "And you came to us because we knew how to stop the snowmen the first time."

"Yes," Clara swallowed, "If there is anyone who would know what is going on, I thought it would be the two of you. I mean…you said the Doctor's really a doctor. Wouldn't he want to help sort this out?"

"Not at the moment, no," the Judge shook her head, "He's…a little retired. He does this," she added, seeing Clara's expression fall, "He gets into a sulk after…after things happen and he thinks the Universe would be better off without him interfering. But things always happen around him that pull him back in, that make him realize that the Universe does need him, more than he realizes."

"And…this is it?" Clara asked, hopeful that this snow would get the Doctor helping.

"It's starting to," the Judge sighed, "But we have to be careful about how we go about broaching the subject to him. He's a stubborn man most of the time. He has to feel curious and needed in his own time and in his own way. If we bring this up and try to make him help, he won't help."

Clara nodded slowly, it was like with her charges, that little boy she cared for. He wouldn't eat his vegetables for the longest time, till she sat him down and said he couldn't leave the table till he finished them. Eventually he did eat them, of his own free will, and now, at dinners, it DID take him a short while to eat the vegetables, but he got to them eventually. The more his sister would prod him to eat them, or his father would order him to, the less he wanted to.

"What…what sort of things?" she had to bring up, curiosity getting the better of her, "What sort of things could make him think that?"

"Loss," the Judge sighed, "He's a caring man Clara, a hero really. And when he cares about people and loses them…it makes him question what he's doing."

"Pardon my saying but…you don't seem overly concerned about it," Clara began cautiously.

The Judge gave her a wry smile, "He does this _all the time_ Clara. For centuries and _centuries_. It's a pattern for him. He feels a loss, takes time off, and claims to the heavens that he's done with it all. It never lasts. He'll be back to running off and saving the world, probably even before Christmas."

Clara started to smile a little at that, feeling relieved but also seeing a fondness in the Judge's eyes. She could tell the woman wasn't being cruel or harsh in how she was treating this, as though it meant nothing because it would always end well when it was over. No, she saw how much the Doctor was hurting and she accepted it, the Judge just knew well enough that the Doctor shouldn't be pushed. Push him and the more he'll resist, leave him be for a time and eventually he'd find his way again.

"So what should we do about the snow?" she shook her head, trying to return to her original need to see the Judge and Doctor.

"You see this scan?" the Judge turned the monitor closer to show her, a small flashing light on it, "This is the location of the source of the snow's telepathic field. The Doctor and I will investigate this, YOU will return to your children and leave this to us."

"But…"

"Clara," the Judge cut in, "I do appreciate you bringing your concerns to light, and I understand your concern for that girl under your care, but you are a human," she reminded her, "You came to the Doctor and I because you didn't know how to handle the snow and knew WE did. Let us deal with this. You go and keep yourself and the children safe."

Clara let out a breath, but the Judge was right, she HAD come to them because THEY knew what to do more than she did. She swallowed hard and nodded, "How are you going to get him to help without pushing?"

The Judge just smiled as she led Clara to the doors, "Years of experience."

~8~

The Judge shook her head as she followed the Doctor through the halls of the Great Intelligence Institute, walking quickly as he strutted through…dressed in a rather ridiculous outfit. He was all done up like Sherlock Holmes, complete with a cape, deerstalker hat, cane, and pipe. One of the servants had let them in and rushed to go inform the master of the house, a Dr. Simeon that Vastra had mentioned a time or two, that they were there. The Doctor had waited, as the servant requested, all of 15 seconds before he started after the man in question.

It had been easier than she thought it would be to get him curious enough to investigate this time. It appeared his nap…and the mystery tales he'd been reading beforehand…had done him good. He was always more restless after he'd been stationary for a long while, like sleeping or eating or napping. He woke shortly after Clara had left and had been pacing around the small room of their house that had the bookshelves in it, muttering about how he wanted to find something to do and that the room was too stuffy and perhaps they should go for a stroll…maybe even look more closely at the snow. She had encouraged it, of course, had suggested he perhaps don the Sherlock guise to truly get into the role of investigating. And, once the outfit was on, the Doctor was in character and he had truly wanted to investigate the Institute that Strax kept going on about, that the scan had pointed to. It was all about patience with him when he grew into a funk like this. Just be patient, be encouraging when the curiosity DID strike and don't push too much and the Doctor would fall back into his old ways naturally.

She truly had no idea why he had even wanted that house in the first place. Perhaps it had been his subconscious trying to give him the most mundane thing he could think of for a place to rest, make him more eager to get out there and explore, to not be idle. He claimed, when they had first acquired the home, an investment of Jack's, that it was because he wanted to stop exploring. He was intending for it to be a sign to Vastra and the others that he wasn't going to give in and investigate or go on adventures but that he was truly going to settle down this time. She knew better though. For as much as he tried to convince himself and others that it was his attempt at normalcy, at peace and quiet, at stability…she knew that it wouldn't last. Not just because his natural curiosity would come back but he had told her once that his last self had thought the idea of having a home with windows and carpets and doors to be a nightmare. She was sure that had carried over some, she knew he'd get agitated sooner than later and so she'd encouraged them living in the house as well. Vastra and Jenny had been alarmed, had seen it as more of a reason to try and lure him out the doors, but they didn't understand that just being INdoors would get him restless and wanting to leave.

It had been nice, for a time, living in a house, much like they had on Gallifrey. But even she was starting to dislike the place. It felt like…well, it felt like a rather bad imitation or a replacement for the home they once had. It wasn't the same, she could admit that, it wasn't the same to live in an Earth house when the two of them were Time Lords. In that sense the TARDIS was more a home to them despite how it moved around. She didn't like it there, on Earth, not just being surrounded by humans but because it wasn't the same. It was more like…they were trying to have something back that couldn't be replicated. It made her uncomfortable at times, because it felt more like it was a reminder that they were both different, something she had broached to the Doctor after the Dalek Asylum. Being reminded of that all the time in how SHE now felt being inside an actual home…it wasn't something either of them needed. They knew they were different and they were trying to find a balance, find themselves again, and the house wasn't helping either of them.

She looked ahead as the Doctor reached a set of doors to a study that they'd seen the servant disappear through moments ago, "Ooh," he let out a mock-awed noise, looking around, "Nice office."

She wasn't entirely sure what was so impressive about it till she was inside as well and could spot a platform in the middle of the room that had a glass globe set up on it, snow wafting around inside it with spires of electricity crackling around it. Well…that was certainly not of human origin.

"Big globey thing," the Doctor grinned, looking at the Judge. She was tempted to roll her eyes at his description of it, but had to smile instead at his grin, he smiled so rarely these days that to see it did warm her hearts a bit, "Now, shut up, don't tell me!" he turned back to the two men before them. The servant was off to the side, with a tall man that had a rather long face standing before a desk, glaring at them as the Doctor pointed his cane at him, Dr. Simeon, "I see from your collar stud you have an apple tree and a wife with a limp. Am I right?"

"No," Simeon stated.

"But you've got a wife? I do."

"No."

"Bit of a tree? Bit of a wife? Some apples? Come on, work with me here."

Simeon rolled his eyes at that, "I enjoy The Strand magazine as much as the next man but I am perfectly aware that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character as I am aware that he is NOT married," he cast a sneer at the Judge, clearly the servant had introduced her as Mrs. Holmes, "Get out!"

The Doctor, instead of listening, merely turned to the servant and pointed his cane at the man, "Do you have a goldfish named Colin?"

"No," the servant said after a moment.

"Please tell me you didn't have to actually THINK about that," the Judge gave the man a look, he truly had appeared as though he were thinking about whether or not he had a goldfish."

The Doctor merely chuckled at that, "Thought not," he winked at the Judge, tossing her his cane to focus more on the room, the Judge trying to get a better look at the globe without getting too close. She didn't really have a clue what it was but it was clearly alien, "Now...ooh!" the Doctor grinned at the desk just beside Simeon, picking up a small white card from it, "I see this is one of your business cards, it says so on the front!"

"Who are you?" Simeon demanded, waving off the servant out of the room, not wanting the man to hear what was going to be said next, or what might be revealed, "What are you doing here?"

"This!" the Doctor turned to the Judge and dashed past her, nabbing the cane from her hand as he did so, moving right for the globe and starting to slam the cane against it, "Wakey, wakey!"

"That is highly valuable equipment!" Simeon rushed for him, grabbing the cane to stop him.

"Why would you WANT to wake it up?" the Judge shook her head, hurrying to the Doctor's other side and pulling him back, "I really am starting to fear for how much time you've spent with these humans Doctor!" truly, had he gone entirely mad? Why wake something up when they didn't know how it could attack? There was plenty, she was sure, that they could learn about it from Simeon instead of from the globe itself.

"You must step away now!" Simeon growled, yanking the cane out of the Doctor's hand.

"We are the Intelligence," a deep voice sounded from the globe, the lights flaring slightly with each word.

"Oh!" the Doctor beamed at the globe, "Talking snow. I love new things."

"I know dear," the Judge stepped back only slightly, her hands moving to her hips, squeezing and releasing and rubbing in nerves. She really wasn't one to interact with many aliens and, while she wasn't sure how a ball of snow could be dangerous, she knew never to underestimate any of the aliens that happened to pop up around the Doctor.

"You are not of this world," the snow stated.

"Takes one to SNOW one!" the Doctor laughed, looking at the Judge for a laugh at his joke, but he cleared his throat as she gave him an exasperated shake of the head though she had a small smile on her face for it, "Right, let's see," he straightened his cape and moved to walk around the globe, eyeing it intently, "Multi-nucleate, crystalline organism with the ability to mimic and mirror what it finds," he rapped on the glass with the back of his knuckles, "Looks like snow. Isn't snow."

"Then what is it?" the Judge frowned. The Doctor had faced many enemies in the past, so many of them had become stories to her, various names and odd descriptions, some shared memories when it was too comedic or tragic for him to express in words. She did recall a Great Intelligence that he'd faced before, twice so far, but it couldn't be this could it? The Doctor had sounded as though he'd defeated that enemy. Unless this was before it had met him? Ooh this was why he shouldn't have been allowed to time travel.

"You must leave here now!" Simeon half-snarled.

"Shut up, I'm making deductions, it's very exciting," the Doctor cut in, "Now, what are you, eh?" he started pacing, eyeing the snow, "A flock of space crystals? A swarm?" he turned and snapped his fingers, pointing at the Judge while Simeon ran to a small hanging rope to call his servants to the room for help, "What do you think dear? What are the snowmen? A threat as well?"

The Judge eyed the snow and then the Doctor, "I don't think so," she reasoned, "The snowmen were basic, hardly dangerous, more…scouts and spies. This one, this one can speak, which means it has some sort of cleverness and intellect to it," she gave him a look, "And it DID say it was the Intelligence before Doctor, unless it's 'the Arrogant' we should probably assume that it IS intelligent."

"Yes," he murmured, turning back to eye the snow, "You're Moriarty. So you turn up on a planet, you generate a telepathic field to learn what you can," the Judge glanced back, having seen the Doctor pull out the sonic and flash it behind his back towards the doors to lock them, "And when you've learnt enough, what do you do?"

"Well he's hardly going to take over the world with a handful of snowmen," the Judge shook her head, focusing on the Doctor again, "Come summer they'd just melt."

The Doctor nodded, "You'll have to be better than that. You'll have to evolve."

"What have you done?" Simeon shouted, the muffled sounds of his servants trying to break through the locked doors echoing to them, "Have you locked the doors?"

"If they aren't opening, then safe betting is that yes, they ARE locked," the Judge remarked dryly, truly these humans were very keen to state the obvious and ask the rather ridiculous questions. She sighed and looked over at the man's desk before heading to it, trying to see if there were any papers or notes there that might help them. When she had been a judge on Gallifrey, even in school, she had always taken very detailed notes and clearly, while the snow was alien, the manmade pieces around it were created from the technology of this time. Someone had to have built it and Simeon was also very aware that the snow was unnatural and was helping it.

"You need to translate yourself into something more, well, human," the Doctor continued to examine the globe, ignoring Simeon ordering his men to just break the door down, "To do that you'd need a perfect duplicate of human DNA in ice form…where do you find that?"

"I think I might know," the Judge called, turning slightly, holding a journal in her hands, "It's Simeon's files on the snow and the snowmen, look here," she held a page open, one that the book fell open to almost naturally, the one page that the man had obviously focused on most, "Just last year, a governess was frozen in a pond, alive," she gave him a pointed look, thinking about his words on human DNA in ice form, but even more so she was thinking of Clara, how she'd mentioned that the prior governess for the family she served had died.

"Darkover House," he read off the page, "Geronimo," he nodded his head as he set the journal down and took her hand, pulling her towards French doors on the side of the room, the two of them rushing out into the night just as the servants broke into the room behind them.

~8~

"Do be careful dear," the Judge called as she stood at the base of a small pond before the Darkover House, her arms crossed though with the Doctor's jacket over her shoulders. She wasn't cold, Time Lords being more resilient to temperatures, but he'd insisted, claimed it would hold him down as he tried to get close and examine the frozen pond, and she'd accepted it…if it meant he was getting more and more curious, the better, "The last thing we need is for YOU to fall in and get frozen as well. I'd rather they not get a look at your DNA."

"Yes," he agreed, walking along the edge of the pond and scanning the frozen portion with his sonic, "Body frozen in a pond, the snow gets a good long look at a human being, like a full body scan. Everything they need to evolve. Definitely don't want them getting a taste of us eh?" he smiled at the Judge…only for his grin to fall from his face as he saw Strax walking up to them, "What are you doing here?"

"Madame Vastra wondered if you were needing any grenades?" Strax stated, straightening as though he were awaiting orders.

"Did she really say _grenades_, Strax?" the Judge gave him a look.

Strax's lips pursed, "She might have said help."

"Help for what?" the Doctor shook his head, genuinely confused.

"Well, your investigation," the Sontaran gestured at the pond.

"Investigation?" the Doctor nearly laughed, "Who says I'm investigating? Do you think I'm going to start investigating just because some bird smiles at me? How did you even know we were here?" the Doctor pointed at him, that was the most confusing part. They hadn't taken the carriage or Strax along.

"I might have let Vastra know," the Judge gave him a slightly apologetic smile, "I didn't want her to bother you," she added in defense, "I know you hate being interrupted…" she gave Strax a pointed look, the Sontaran staring at her for a moment, as though trying to interpret her look, before his eyes widened and he about-faced, scurrying off into the darkness again, "Sorry," she offered to the Doctor, "I didn't realize Vastra would send him."

She had honestly thought he woman would understand that she needed to back off and allow the Doctor to handle this as much on his own as he could. It appeared she had overestimated the intelligence of the Silurians as well.

The Doctor opened his mouth to wave it off when a rectangle of warm light appeared on the ground around them. They looked up to the house to see that a window curtain had opened, Clara sitting just on the other side of it, waving at them the moment she saw them and gesturing for them to come inside.

The Doctor sighed and looked at the Judge, "Must we?"

She laughed, stepping up onto the edge of the pond's ledge and walked over to him, "We must," she nodded, "If the pond is so important to the Intelligence then the telepathic field is likely more concentrated here. We should make sure she and the others of the home weren't adversely affected," she knew the girl, Francesca had been, but she had agreed not to tell the Doctor too much about Clara's visit, knowing that he might see it as Clara now attempting to lure him about, or think that Vastra had talked Clara into helping her make attempts to make him curious.

He nodded at that and turned, holding up 5 fingers for her and a thumbs up before he and the Judge started to head to the house, unaware that the ice on the pond had started to crack behind them.

~8~

Hearing the frantic shouts and screams from upstairs had the Time Lords racing to the upper levels, bursting into what appeared to be a playroom or a classroom (or both) as they heard footsteps of Clara and the two children heading for that same room from the other side of the room where another door was located. They looked around, trying to find anything they could use to help and the two of them quickly dashing to hide so that they could help take out whatever was after Clara and the children when it entered.

A moment later Clara, a little boy, and a slightly older girl, ran into the room, panting and gasping, Clara locking the door behind them and stopping the children rushing on.

"What do we do?" the girl gasped.

"Frannie, Frannie, imagine 'er melting," Clara leaned in to grip Frannie's arms.

"What?!"

"In your 'ead, melt 'er!"

Frannie seemed to actually be trying, but she was just too scared to think of anything but what was chasing them, "I can't!"

"I'm getting impatient!" a woman's voice screeched from the other side of the door, pounding on it till it flew open, revealing a rather severe looking woman made entirely of ice, "You have been VERY naughty!"

"What about those two people?" the boy turned to Clara as she ushered the children behind her, protecting them, "You said there was a man and a woman that had a secret house on a cloud! You said they were here!"

"Well, they ain't, are they?" Clara kept her eyes on the woman, backing the children up.

"Where's the Doctor?" the boy cried.

"I don't know!"

"Doctor?" a squeaky voice called from the side and the three looked over to see a small puppet of a Punch doll had popped up in their little theater, "Doctor who?" it suddenly turned, the sonic in its hand and flashed it at the ice woman, stilling her, causing the ice to start to crack, holding her in place long enough for the Judge to push the door that had burst open shut, having hidden behind it, and striking the ice woman with a firepoker she'd grabbed from the fireplace, shattering the woman into bits, "Ha ha!" the Punch doll cheered as the Doctor popped up in the theater as well, revealing himself, "That's the way to do it!" he turned the puppet on himself and had it bop him on the face, "Oi, ow," he pouted at it, before dropping it onto the theater and making his way out of it, heading over to where the Judge was examining a piece of the ice she'd stuck on the end of the poker.

The Judge gave him a serious look and he nodded, flashing the ice remains with his sonic, melting them into the carpet.

"Where did she go?" Frannie peeked around Clara, "Will she come back?"

"No, don't worry," he waved it off, "She's currently draining through your carpet. New setting," he held up the sonic, "Anti-freeze, and you're very welcome, by the way," he added to Clara.

"I'm very grateful," Clara smiled, "I knew you'd come."

"No, you didn't, because I don't," the Doctor insisted, "Because this isn't the sort of thing I do any more. Next time you're in trouble, don't expect me to..."

The Judge moved in front of him, reaching up to tug on his beloved bowtie, straightening it, "She saw us outside the house dear," she reminded him, "She saw us heading for it after she invited us in. She knew we were inside," she looked up at him, "And I doubt any father in the world could just stand back when he heard children crying," she gave him a pointed look.

He nodded slowly at that, understanding, it was just like with Amy and the Star Whale. He never could stand there when children were scared or hurt or in danger, no matter what he might feel on a larger scale, how much he might not want to be a Doctor anymore, how much he might want to retire, the children…it was always the children that pulled him back in. On Gallifrey it was the faith his children had in him, how proud they were of him for what he did, for all the good that he did for the Universe. It was the look in his grandchildren's eyes when he regaled them with a tale of adventure and danger, how much they loved what he did. And…it was the Judge as well, it was her acceptance of who he was, of what he did, of what it meant to him…it was her belief in him, her trust that what he was doing was for a reason, that his time away from their family was worth it in the larger scope, that kept him going back out there to help.

It was like with Vincent Van Gogh, life was a pile of good and bad things, and neither, when they happened, outweighed or made the other less important. He had lost the Ponds, yes, but he with them had done so much good and he knew…they would want him to continue to do it. Every loss was offset with a gain, if he stopped now…all the good he might be able to do would never happen. He…he couldn't let it stop him, there had been companions before the Ponds, there had been companions that he had lost to death, and he never let it stop him before. Delay him, yes, but…just coming back to his wife, to his family, to their love and faith and belief in him…it made him want to honor the faith and belief and care that his companions had for him, to keep going and keep doing good in their name.

He smiled a little more as he looked at his wife, even without trying, she always knew how to get through to him. It was always her, coming home to her, that soothed his soul and heartsbreak after losing a companion. And now…now he had her with him. He didn't want her to see him like this, this sulking man that would turn away from children in need…and what were the humans but adult-children in a way, compared to Time Lords. He wanted to be a man that his wife would be proud of, that his children would be proud of, and this…ignoring the danger to others just to sulk about? This wasn't the way to go.

"Doctor…" Clara shivered, "The room is getting colder…" she warned, only moments before the rug began to move, forming a lump as though there were something rising from underneath it.

"She's coming back!" Frannie cried, terrified, "What's she going to do? Is she going to punish me?"

"We won't let her harm you Frannie," the Judge reassured her, "Three of us against one of her," she looked at the two of other adults in the room, well…she used the term adults lightly given Clara was a human and this incarnation of the Doctor was quite likely the most immature of the lot, "She won't lay a hand on you or your brother," she added.

"One problem," the Doctor tried to keep his voice loose as he tried to flash the carpet with his sonic again, "She's learnt not to melt. So…run!" he turned and ushered them out of the room, the Judge and Clara pushing the children ahead of them as they bolted, hurrying down the hall and towards the stairs, the children clambering down it so loudly that another man, their father, stepped out of his study on the first floor to stop the ruckus.

"Children, what is exp..." he cut himself off rather abruptly when he spotted the Judge standing beside Clara and the Doctor behind them, "Who the devil are you?! What are you doing in my house?!"

"It's ok," the Doctor smiled, "We are…acquaintances of your governess, we were just upstairs…talking."

Before the man could even question why they were upstairs at that time of night or what they were discussing, a maid with red hair ran in, screaming her head off, "Captain Latimer, in the garden, there's snowmen! And they're just growing, out of nowhere, all by themselves, look!" she ran to the front door and threw it open…only to see Vastra and Jenny standing there.

"Good evening, I'm a lizard woman from the dawn of time and this is my wife!" Vastra smiled politely.

However the woman was in no fair state to entertain and screamed once more before turning to try and run away from the lizard woman…only to run right into Strax as he entered through the back.

"This dwelling is under attack!" Strax reported, "Remain calm, human scum!"

The Judge wasn't sure if it was the large gun in Strax's hand or the fact that the woman had encountered two rather obvious aliens, but the woman collapsed into a dead faint in mere moments.

"So!" the Doctor clapped his hands as though that were all perfectly normal, "Any questions?"

"What is going on!?" the father nearly seemed on the verge of stomping his foot in indignation at it all.

"Good question," the Doctor pointed at him and spun to Vastra, "Vastra, what's happening?"

"The snow is highly localized," Vastra began, "And on this occasion not naturally occurring."

"I never would have guessed that," the Judge remarked dryly, they had known from the start that the snow wasn't normal and they'd already discovered that it was more concentrated around the Darkover House, "Anything else that's actually useful?"

"It's coming out of that cab parked by the gates?" Jenny offered and the Judge headed to the window to look out.

"Simeon's car," the Judge nodded, "Still doesn't tell us anything new though. We knew he was involved."

"One pulver grenade would blow these snowmen to smithereens!" Strax declared.

"They're made of snow, Strax," the Doctor gave him a look he knew must have been a familiar one to see on the Judge's face, a cross between exasperation and incredulousness that someone had actually just suggested something daft or obvious, "They're already smithereens," he ran a hand down his face and looked at the Judge, "I'm starting to see it."

"Yes, but in Sontarans and still not humans," the Judge quipped, "I've yet to see you think Clara daft."

"Clara?" the father glanced at the governess that the Judge had just gestured to, "Who's Clara?"

"Please tell me you didn't hire a woman without actually looking into her background and sources," the Judge gave the man the same look the Doctor had given Strax, "You let her around your children, put their lives in her hands, and you didn't even know her actual name?"

"Your current governess is in reality a former barmaid called Clara," the Doctor explained quickly.

"That's the way to do it!" a screeching voice called from above them and they all turned to see the ice woman had reformed and was slowly making her way down the stairs towards them.

"Meanwhile, your previous governess is now a living ice sculpture impersonating Mr. Punch."

"Vastra," the Judge turned to her, "Have you or Jenny got anything to help?" she asked them.

Jenny pulled out a small grenade-shaped object and threw it right at the ice woman, creating a red force field around her that flared to life every time the woman beat against it, "Should hold it."

"Love the 'should,'" the Judge muttered.

"Sir!" Strax called from the study that the children's father had rushed out of, "This room, one observational window on the line of attack and one defendable entrance."

"Right," the Doctor nodded, "Everyone in there now. Move it. You," he pointed to the father and then the unconscious maid, "Carry her."

The Judge ushered the children off with Clara, the father carrying his maid off with Jenny just behind them, she and Vastra waiting as the Doctor scanned the ice woman one more time.

"Nice to see you off your cloud and engaging again," Vastra smirked.

"Don't get cocky Vastra," the Judge told her dryly, "This was not your doing."

"And I'm not engaging again, I'm under attack," the Doctor defended.

"You must admit that you missed this, didn't you?" Vastra countered.

"Shut up," the Doctor pouted, turning to stride off towards the study.

"He didn't deny it," Vastra grinned.

"I did try to tell you to let him come to this in his own time," the Judge reminded the woman as they headed off after him, shutting the door to the study behind them as they entered, Clara standing with the children off to the side.

"Strax, how long have we got?" the Doctor got right to it.

"They're not going to attack," Strax stated, "They made no attempt to conceal their arrival. An attack force would never abandon surprise so easily - and they're clearly in a defense formation."

"Well done, Straxie," the Doctor smiled, fake-boxing with the Sontaran a moment, "Still got it!" before giving Strax a noogie and then kissing the Sontaran's head.

"Sir, please do not noogie me during combat prep."

"So there's something here they want," Vastra determined.

"I think it's rather obvious what that is," the Judge crossed her arms.

"The Ice Woman!" Clara stood up with the realization.

"Exactly," the Doctor nodded.

But Jenny frowned, "Why's she so important?"

"Because she's a perfect duplication of human DNA in ice crystal form," the Doctor stated, "The ultimate fusion of snow and humanity. To live here, the snow needs to evolve, and she's the blueprint. She's what they need to become," he spun around and pointed at Clara, "When the snow melted last night, did the pond?"

"No," Clara said instantly.

"Which means the ice she's made of won't melt either," the Judge frowned.

"Exactly," the Doctor agreed, "If the snow gets hold of that creature on the stairs, it will learn to make more of them. It will build an army of ice. And it will be the last day of humanity on this planet."

The rather tense and dramatic moment was disturbed by the sound of the doorbell ringing, making the Judge crack a small smile, knowing how much the Doctor lived for his dramatics.

He merely cracked his neck, "You lot, stay here," he ordered, turning to go, "Judge, with me," he added, taking her hand as they left the room…only to turn around when they heard the door shut once more and spotted Clara behind them, having followed, "Oi, I told you to stay in there."

"Oh, I didn't listen," Clara shrugged.

"You do that a lot."

Clara smiled slightly, "It's why you both like me."

"I wouldn't go that far," the Judge remarked.

"Who said we liked you?" the Doctor agreed.

"You 'aven't sent me back into the study," she smirked, "Now," she patted the Doctor's shoulder and stepped past him, "We 'ave an ice woman to deal with, don't we?"

The Time Lords looked at each other and the Judge shook her head, "You're the one that's fond of humans, dear," she reminded him.

"The TARDIS was the one that brought us here though," he countered, not quite admitting that he would have picked another place to set down and retire in but not admitting that he wanted to be there either. He let out a long breath and started to head off after Clara, catching up to her staring at the ice woman from the bottom of the stairs and, instead, turning to the front door and opening it, seeing Simeon standing on the other side, his face as long and solemn as ever.

"Release her to us," Simeon threatened, "You have five minutes."

"Good thing you've experience saving the world in less time than that," the Judge murmured as Simeon walked off.

The Doctor smiled at her and spun around, shutting the door and heading to the base of the stairs beside Clara, looking up at the ice woman as the Judge moved behind him to look at it as well, "We need to get her out of here, but keep her away from them."

"'ow?" Clara shook her head.

"With this," the Doctor grinned, leaning over to pull an umbrella with a curved handle out of a bin at the bottom of the stairs, "Do I always have to state the obvious?"

"More often than not," the Judge nodded.

"Those creatures outside," the children's father called as he came to join them in the hall, "What are they?"

"Please tell me you didn't just leave your children in a room with three strangers, two of whom are aliens, and an unconscious maid," the Judge gave him a disapproving look. Even if they could trust Vastra and Strax and Jenny, this man had no idea at all who they were, it should have been his first priority to care for and protect his children instead of chasing after Clara.

"No danger to you," the Doctor answered instead, "As long as we get that thing out of here! You," he pointed to the father and back to the study, "In there, now."

He waited till the man walked off before stepping up onto the stairs, pulling the sonic out and flashing it at the red field around the ice woman.

"What are you doing?" Clara took one step behind him.

"I can't wait to find out!" he grinned.

"Which means he has no idea at all," the Judge sighed, making her way up the stairs to join him…when the force field suddenly expanded to just the step that he was on…the step that Clara had quickly rushed up onto, trapping the two of them with the ice woman and her outside the field.

"Right," the Doctor began, "If you look after everyone here, Clara, then the Judge and I can..."

"Doctor," the Judge cut in and he turned to see that it wasn't the Judge that was in the field with him but Clara.

"Clara!" he cried.

"Doctor!" Clara mimicked the Judge and pulled him down as the ice woman lunged at them, dragging him halfway up the stairs to the back landing.

"Hold on, hold on, just give me a mo and…" he tried to fiddle with the sonic, aiming it at the field, "I can expand it and…"

"Just go!" the Judge shook her head, urging him to run as the ice woman turned on him again, "I'll…I'LL stay and look after them, just focus on the ice woman."

"Are you sure?" the Doctor frowned, not sure how he felt about doing this without her, doing this with Clara instead.

The Judge nodded, "Someone has to worry about the children," she gave Clara a pointed look.

No matter if their father was with them, it was Clara's JOB to look after those children. She had been hired and expected to care for them, to protect them and tend to them, not to go rushing off in curiosity. She was rather…irritated with Clara right now, that she'd just run off and abandoned the children who looked to her for comfort more than their father. She could almost understand why the Doctor was slightly more fond of Clara than the other humans at the moment.

She shook her head, "Go," she repeated, "Take care of her, and I'll watch the others."

"That's the way to do it!" the ice woman screeched as she swung at the Doctor and Clara, forcing Clara to rush off, pulling the Doctor further up the stairs, though his eyes remained on her till he couldn't see her any longer.

She let out a frustrated breath as she heard them shouting above her about random mirroring in how the ice woman spoke and trying to get to the roof. She could only hope that everything would be alright…

But a short while later, when a loud thud had all those in the study running to the window only to see Clara on the ground outside, ice surrounding her, having fallen from the cloud the TARDIS had been moved with, dead…she knew that it would most certainly NOT be alright at all.

~8~

The Judge stood beside the TARDIS, leaning on it, her right arm crossed over her chest, gripping her left elbow as her left hand rested against her mouth, just…staring at Clara as she laid on a small table in the study, the soft red glow of energy from some of Strax's equipment around her. Strax was intently at work, scanning her with a handheld device while the children stood on one end of the room, Jenny with them, the two staring at Clara and trying not to cry while their father was across from Strax instead of comforting his children. Vastra was waiting by the windows, keeping a lookout for Simeon outside.

"That green woman said she was dead, how can she be alive now?" the father asked Strax, shaking his head at both Strax and Clara.

The Judge closed her eyes at that, feeling guilt hit her. If she had just been quicker, if she'd managed to make it into the field in time instead of Clara, this never would have happened. She should have let the Doctor extend the field more, allowed him to include her in it but she'd waved it off, she'd told him to go, deal with the ice woman while she dealt with the children. In her head it had made sense, while Vastra and Strax had a grip on things, none of them were a mother and the children were clearly terrified of the ice woman and what Simeon could do. In her hearts it had made sense, the Doctor had finally gotten his interest piqued, had finally started to engage like Vastra had said. She knew that he needed to be the one to choose to invite Clara to join him as a companion, that that would be the last thing he needed to truly heal, to see someone willing for adventure and ready to face the dangers and wanting to be there. She had kept an eye on the Doctor in her mind, able to vaguely sense what was going on above them, where they'd moved the TARDIS, how Clara pretended she hadn't seen the TARDIS before, how he invited her to join him, and then a startling shock before a thud had been heard outside. She had reasoned that he needed to do that on his own, that he needed to make the choice without her there to influence him or have her presence prevent him from doing so…and because of that he'd lost the potential companion only moments after inviting her along. And he'd lost her in the worst way.

At least with the Ponds, he hadn't had to SEE them die, Clara…she was dying right at that very moment.

And she knew that the Doctor would be back to blaming himself for what happened, just like he had with the Ponds. She knew though, that this time it wouldn't suck him back into his sulking, this time something had, under the orders of another, attacked and tried to kill Clara. He knew that the ice woman and the snowmen were mere foot soldiers, taking orders, he would fight back…because he would not be willing to allow this to happen to another. The ice woman had gotten into the house, had come for the children that Clara had protected, he wouldn't allow it or the snowmen a second attempt. He wouldn't allow the Intelligence to get away with this.

"This technology has capacities and abilities beyond anything your puny human mind could possibly understand," Strax stated, and the Judge felt the corner of her lips crack up into a small smile, she and Strax were of similar opinions when it came to humans…though she was of the opinion that Strax was rather puny brained as well, "Try not to worry."

The Judge shook her head, glancing at Vastra with a pointed look and a small nod to the TARDIS. Vastra nodded as well and turned fully to look out the window, allowing the woman to deal with her husband while she kept watch. The Judge took a breath, glancing at Clara once more before she pushed the door to the TARDIS open and entered. She closed the door behind her, leaning on it a moment, just observing the Doctor. He was standing at the console, flashing the sonic against bits of the ice woman, setting them into a small lunchbox that had a map of the London Underground on it, doing that for all the pieces till there were none left. He sighed, bracing his hands on either side of the console and closing his eyes.

"It's my fault," the Doctor said after a moment.

The Judge took that as a sign to enter fully and made her way up to the console, "Not this time, dear, I'm afraid it falls on me."

His head snapped up to look at her, "You weren't even there."

"And that's why it's MY fault," she reached out, placing a hand on his, "I should have been. If I had been quicker, if I'd made it into the field before Clara could, if I'd let you take it down to let me in…" she shook her head, "Four eyes are better than two, maybe I would have seen something, been able to stop it…"

"Or you could have been the one that fell," he turned, taking her hand fully, a frown on his face.

"But I would have regenerated," she reminded him. She reached out and touched his face as he looked down, making him look up at her, "Theta…just this once, blame _me_ instead of yourself."

"No," he swallowed, not about to do that, "No, this time…neither of us are to blame," he determined, "It's the Intelligence," he nearly spat the name, "HE is the one to blame. He sent that ice woman, he created her, needed her," his glance drifted down to the box his other hand was resting on, a slow thought rising in him, a plan forming.

"Please tell me you're coming up with an actual plan instead of a thing," the Judge gave him a small smile, relieved that he was finally focusing the blame on the right person.

"I think I am," he nodded slowly, looking back at her.

"Then you need to see it through," she told him, "See it through and make sure that everyone else is safe."

A small frown began to form on his face, "_I_ need to see it through?" he asked her quietly, "You…you don't want to…"

"I think I should stay with Clara," she told him, "I'm…not as experienced as you, or Vastra," she added, silently telling him he was NOT going to be alone in this, "In dealing with other aliens, and I think you've met this one before?" he nodded slowly, "I don't want to risk doing something wrong."

It was true, she didn't have as much experience. Even being with Torchwood, they were different sorts of aliens than she was used to dealing with with the Doctor, HIS enemies made Torchwood's seem like child's play. And she had an entire team with her for the most part, helping her along the way, teaching her. The Doctor had centuries of experience over that. The Daleks, well, she was familiar with them, the dinosaurs hadn't been aliens nor had Solomon, the Gunslinger…that was her element, that was the law, and the cubes were hardly interactive till the end and the Shakri had been a mere hologram. Even the Weeping Angels weren't quite interactive, they couldn't speak, only move but this…the Intelligence could talk and act and control other things. If she said the wrong thing or made the wrong move…she didn't want to risk it attacking.

And, in the off chance that the Doctor did something to bring its ire out…she should be here to help protect the family from the snowmen she'd seen forming outside. Vastra would go with the Doctor, and that would leave Jenny, a human with a sword, and Strax, who would be focused on helping Clara instead of fighting, along with three humans that were scared out of their wits, two being children, and a dying Clara. She would be the only one capable of actually fighting on the level an alien could. And if the snowmen did try to get into the house…she had to be there. Not just to protect them but…even if the Doctor was blaming the Intelligence for the ice woman, SHE was blaming herself for not having been there to stop it or help. She felt she owed it to Clara to be there for her now.

She was a mother as well as a Judge, she just…couldn't bring herself to leave those two children alone, she wanted to protect them. But that only served to remind her why she hadn't been with Clara in the first place, for a short moment she'd been irritated with the woman for abandoning the children she had been hired and assigned and paid to watch over to chase after the Doctor. She had told herself she was doing the right thing in staying with the children Clara had so carelessly abandoned, and now it appeared Clara was going to leave them in a far more permanent way.

The Doctor smiled softly, as though he knew the other reasons she wanted to stay, and nodded slowly, "Clara…she'll be fine," he said, though there wasn't a hint of a promise in his words, "I know she is, she has to be."

The Judge gave him a sad smile, "You and I both know that isn't true," she told him gently, but bluntly, "The equipment of the Sontarans can only bring her back for a short while. To get information from the fallen of who attacked them. But it can't save her from a fall like that."

"I know," he sighed, hating that he had to admit to that.

"Then we need to make sure that she is able to know that everyone, that the children, are safe before the end."

The Doctor took a deep breath and nodded, gripping the box of the ice shards and gripped her hand tightly as he turned and led her to the doors. In a way he was disappointed that she wouldn't come with him to face down the Intelligence, he…he wanted her there. He had told her so many tales, along with his children, of the adventures he had and the enemies he faced down, he wanted her to be able to see more of that. Admittedly the last few adventures hadn't really involved much of him facing down an enemy like this. Daleks were common, Solomon human, the Kahler had been her doing for the most part, the cubes and Shakri minimal, and it wasn't like you could do much but stand there and stare at a Weeping Angel. This would have truly been one of the first where he got to show her what he did, how he did it.

At the same time though, he was relieved. He wasn't sure he'd be able to control his temper when he faced the Intelligence now and he didn't want her to see him like that. She'd seen him in the dark recent, seen him trying and happy and she'd seen him raging in the past. But…he was trying to make something new with her, trying to make something better with her, he didn't want to dampen that b y her seeing him genuinely losing his temper like that. He also…he did want her safe and she'd be safe in the house with the children.

More than that though, he did understand, while he was blaming the Intelligence, she was blaming herself for not being there. She had spent all this time since the Ponds caring for him and understanding him. He knew what Vastra and Strax and Jenny had been trying to do in the past, try to lure him out. The Judge had understood him, knew what he needed to heal himself and let it happen. He knew what she needed as well. She hadn't been there for Clara before and, despite how she didn't much care for humans, she did feel guilty and what she needed at the moment was to be there for Clara now. He wouldn't begrudge her of that. She had done what he needed, now it was his turn to do what she needed.

They stepped out of the TARDIS, the Doctor's steps faltering when he caught sight of Clara lying on the table, the faint red glow around her and Strax's more-than-usually-solemn expression. He glanced around at the others there before he handed the box of ice to Jenny and slowly made his way to Clara's side, Strax stepping back to allow him and the Judge room.

The Judge, being closer to Clara's head, reached out and lightly brushed the hair away from Clara's forehead, calling softly to her, "Clara? Wake up dear…"

Clara's eyes slowly blinked open, looking up at them half-lidded.

"Hello," the Doctor whispered, offering her a small smile as he placed his hand on top of hers on the table.

"They all think I'm going to die, don't they?" Clara murmured under her breath, not having the strength to speak louder than that.

The two Time Lords were silent a moment, the Judge shaking her head at the Doctor as he opened his mouth to, undoubtedly, tell her she would live. It was not the time nor place to lie to the girl, nor to give the children false hope and have it crushed moments later. Now was a time for honesty, as much as they could afford.

"This is going to stop Clara," the Judge told her instead, "This will all be over soon, no one else will get hurt."

"You can't know that…" she wheezed.

"We can," the Doctor squeezed her hand, lifting it to place the TARDIS key he'd given her when he'd invited her to join him, into her hand, a symbol of how much he did know about what was going on, a symbol of how he always worked out a way in the end.

Clara swallowed hard as her gaze flickered to the Judge, "You…you said 'e was a 'ero once," she tried weakly to squeeze the Doctor's hand back but couldn't manage, "Is…is 'e back?"

The Judge looked at the Doctor, allowing him to answer because he was the only one that could, "Yes," he nodded, "Yes he is," he tweaked his bowtie and leaned over, pressing a kiss to the Judge's forehead before he turned and stalked out of the room, grabbing the lunchbox from Jenny as Vastra hurried after him, ready to deal with Simeon and the Intelligence, ready to stop them once and for all.

~8~

The Judge was sitting on a small chair beside Clara, holding the girl's hand, unable to help but think about how this was similar to when she'd dealt with Brian last. Most times she looked at humans and she wondered about them, what was so impressive that they kept pulling the Doctor back. But there were times, few though they might be, where she looked at them and she didn't see them as humans but as a father, like with Brian, or a mother, slightly like Clara. The girl had been tasked with teaching and raising and caring for the children and now she was lying there, her life slowly leaving her. Equally though, when she looked at Clara right at that moment, she couldn't help but think of her own children, when they were ill, when they'd be lying in bed sleeping or weak and all she could do was sit there and hold their hands. The Doctor had always been able to do more for their children when they were younger, being a Doctor he had medicines for them and he was energetic like them, playful. She was the mature one they went to for serious discussions, for advice, for meaningful talks and support. They balanced each other that way.

Clara was so weak, she could feel it in the light grip of the girl's hand, she knew it wouldn't be much longer till she breathed her last and the last thing she wanted was for the girl that the Doctor had wanted to take on an adventure to die alone or feeling abandoned. She knew that it was often better in the long run, when the Doctor left his companions on Earth with no trips back and forth like with the Ponds. It gave them a sense of finality, of not needing to wait for him, even if they were left feeling slightly abandoned as well. She glanced over at the place where the TARDIS had sat only a short while ago. The Doctor had departed with Vastra to face the Intelligence and she was vaguely aware of what he was doing in her mind. She trusted Vastra more than Strax or Jenny to protect him as he faced the enemy, just like she hoped he trusted her to keep those in this house safe as well.

"Judge?" Jenny called from where she was keeping a lookout in the window, "They're growing! The snowmen are growing!"

"The snow is falling," the Judge gave her a look, "Of course they're going to grow."

"Then what do we do?" the children's father looked at her.

"Exactly what we agreed to do earlier," the Judge sighed, "We stay here, we keep safe, we wait for the Doctor to finish his task."

"We put our safety in his hands?" the father frowned.

"You put the lives of your children in HER hands," the Judge huffed, gesturing to Clara as she slowly blinked awake, "And she was a barmaid."

The father floundered at that, not having an argument.

"Sorry," Clara murmured, "Bout 'im…"

"He's insufferably dim," the Judge looked down at her, "How did you put up with him?"

Clara seemed like she wanted to laugh at that, but winced instead, her breath leaving her a moment.

"No, you must fight!" Strax called, seeing a spike in his readings, still standing by the table and scanning her, "Hang on and fight, boy, you can do it!"

"Captain Latimer..." Clara turned her head slightly and the man stepped to her side instantly, purposefully ignoring the Judge as he focused on Clara, "Your children... they are afraid. 'old them."

"I um…" he glanced at his children, standing to the side, against the wall, the maid that had fainted holding them but it wasn't enough, it wasn't the comfort they needed, "It's not really my area," he looked back at Clara.

"It is now," Clara mused.

"It should have always been," the Judge's looked turned…well, judging, "They are your children, YOU are their father, you do _not_ get to pawn your children off to someone else because you're afraid. You are the parent here, you should start acting like it," she swallowed hard, glancing at the children and then to him, "Believe me," she added softer, "They grow so fast and when they are old enough, when they leave, you will miss them and you will miss all that time you could have had with them. And you will never get it back."

The father let out a breath at that, sensing a knowledge in her words, as though she had experienced it despite the fact she looked slightly younger than he was. He nodded though and turned, moving over to his children and getting on a knee, holding out his arms to allow them in, nearly falling back when they almost tackled him in a tight hug.

The Judge sucked in a sharp breath and shivered violently, feeling a small chill strike her. She knew it wasn't her though, it was the Doctor, he was being attacked with cold. She began to absently rub her free hand on her skirt, biting the inside of her cheek as she tried to not worry, as she tried to reassure herself that Vastra was there and she would help.

She looked down when she heard a whimper and realized she'd been starting to squeeze Clara's hand. Not tightly, not tight enough to hurt her, but Clara had her eyes on the children and their father, a tear trailing from her eyes as she watched them with the smallest of smiles.

"The snow's melting!" Jenny shouted suddenly with a gasp, "Look at it!" she pointed, "It's turning to rain!"

And indeed it was, instead of white flurries there were rain droplets hitting the window.

The Judge frowned and stood up, making her way to the window and opening it, watching as the snowmen themselves began to melt as well. She reached out and caught a drop or two on her hand, bringing it closer to look at. She didn't sense the telepathic field in the snow or water any longer. She lifted it up and sniffed it, it didn't smell like natural water either, it didn't smell like rain. She cautiously dabbed a bit of it on her finger and touched it to her tongue, it was too salty to be natural rain either.

She turned slowly when she heard a sniffle, to see the children crying openly, their father and the maid trying to be strong and not cry but there were small trails coming down from their eyes, and Clara doing her best not to upset the children more but she had seen the girl cry only moments ago.

"Of course," she breathed, realizing what it was. Clara had been caught in the telepathic web before and she'd said that the girl, Francesca, had been very much focused in it as she'd had nightmares of the ice woman. They were all crying, they were turning the frozen water back into natural water, they were turning the rain…into tears.

She looked over sharply when the wheezing of the TARDIS sounded, the box fading in and out of existence till it solidified the same place that it had disappeared and made her way towards Clara once more, taking her hand again as the door opened and the Doctor stepped out with Vastra.

"I'm sorry," Strax informed them all, "There was nothing to be done. She has moments only."

The Doctor looked at the Judge across from Clara as he drew nearer, giving her a nod, letting her know it was done, before he reached out and took Clara's hand once more, "We saved the world, Clara, we did it."

Clara gave him a tired, weak smile, "So you really are…a 'ero again?"

He nodded, "I really am," he told her, "Thank you for that," he looked up at the Judge as well, "Thank you."

The Judge offered him a small smile and looked back down at Clara, "It's ok Clara," she told her, "It's all over now. Everyone is safe."

She wasn't sure if that was why Clara had held on so long, but she knew…if it were HER…and her children were in danger, she would fight tooth and nail to hang on, to hold on till she knew that her kids were safe. Clara loved those children very much she knew, and, given the way that Clara slowly nodded, the way she allowed her eyes to drift closed, that was why she'd held on as well.

"Run…" Clara breathed her last, "Run, you clever boy," she slowly opened her eyes just one more time, "And remember."

And then, just as the church bells in the distance rang, Clara's eyes drooped, her head lulling to the side.

"It's Christmas," Jenny murmured solemnly, "Christmas Day."

The Judge gently placed Clara's hand down and moved around the table, winding her arm through the Doctor's and leaning on him slightly, trying to offer him comfort, but, instead, he turned and put his arms around her, hugging her tightly to him, resting his chin on her head as she let her head fall to his chest.

~8~

Christmas Day was a solemn affair for the inhabitants of the Darkover House as the ground just beside the home was turned over with the remnants of a freshly covered grave, a tombstone resting there with the inscription for their late governess, the father and his children standing beside it, paying their respects as the Time Lords, Vastra, and Jenny watched from behind. It had been a terrible thing, to have Clara buried so quickly, so soon. But there was little that could be done. They didn't know if she had family around, given that she had hidden her identity, they couldn't risk a mortician look her over nor a doctor perform an autopsy for cause of death without having to explain how she had sustained the injuries she had. Instead a very quiet ceremony had gone one, care of her employer, and now they were just waiting to say goodbye.

"What about the Intelligence?" Vastra inquired in the silence that surrounded them, "Melted with the snow?"

"No," the Doctor sighed, "I shouldn't think so. It learned to survive beyond physical form."

"Well, we can't be in much danger from a disembodied Intelligence that thinks it can invade the world with snowmen," Jenny tried to joke, tried to lighten the mood.

"Or that the London Underground is a key strategic weakness," Vastra gave the Doctor a pointed look for it.

The Judge, though, watched the Doctor closely, knowing exactly why he'd mentioned the London Underground, her thoughts confirmed when he pulled the calling card of Simeon's out of his pocket and observed it, "The Great Intelligence," he murmured, "Rings a bell."

"Which is all the more proof that it survived," the Judge remarked. She remembered more clearly the more she thought about that, the Great Intelligence, what the Doctor had told her of that enemy. This had, clearly, been a point in time for the enemy before it had encountered any of the Doctor's prior selves. He had purposefully told the Intelligence about the Underground, because he knew that there would come a day, in the Intelligence's future and his past, that the enemy would focus on just that location. He knew that he would be able to stop it, but he needed to ensure that the Intelligence would target that area first.

Sadly though, because this was a moment in the Intelligence's timeline before it met the Doctor, that had to mean it would survive to face him later in its history as well. They hadn't seen the last of the enemy this time.

The Doctor squeezed the Judge's hand he'd been holding as the small family turned to leave, leading her to the grave as they stood there and just looked at the tombstone, more specifically the name inscribed on it.

Clara Oswin Oswald.

"It can't be…" the Judge breathed, gaping at it, glancing at the Doctor, "Please tell me that doesn't actually say what I think it does…"

"It does," he murmured, staring openly at the name, his mind drifting back to the Asylum, to Oswin Oswald…it was FAR too much of a coincident for them to share that part of their name. And now, as he thought about it, Clara HAD sounded an awful lot like Oswin had before he'd encountered her Dalek self.

"Doctor?" Vastra frowned, "Judge?" but they were silent.

"We never knew her name," he mumbled, "Her full name."

"She was souffle girl," the Judge realized, "But…how?!" she looked at the Doctor for an explanation, surely with his experience he would know, but he seemed just as confused and startled as she was.

"She even said the same thing," he shook his head, lost in his thoughts, "Run, you clever boy, she said that in both places. It was Soufflé Girl again!" he looked at the Judge, "I never saw her face the first time with the Daleks, when she was one, but her voice!"

The Judge nodded, "It's her voice."

"Whose voice?" Jenny asked, completely lost.

"The same woman, twice, and she died both times, the same woman!" the Doctor was getting frantic now, looking at the Judge and starting to smile.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Vastra eyed him as though he'd gone mad.

"Something's going on, something impossible, something..."

"Good?" the Judge supplied.

"Amazing," the Doctor agreed, spinning around to face Vastra but not letting go of the Judge's hand so he ended up with his arm crossed before him, "Right, you two stay here, stay right here, don't move an inch!" he moved to rush off but realized he was a bit twisted with his arm and ducked under it to hurry off with the Judge who was laughing at his antics, a relieved laugh.

The Doctor was truly back.

"Where are you going?" Vastra called after them.

"To find Clara!" the Judge answered, seeing that the Doctor was too excited to respond, weaving them in and out of the tombstones as they hurried along, racing for the TARDIS.

~8~

The Judge sat on one of the side chairs of the new console room, a bit of paper in her hand, a pen in the other as she jotted something down, the Doctor rushing around the console, trying to find another Clara Oswin Oswald out there. It was going to take a fair bit of time though, he was searching the entire universe throughout time, all the names in the TARDIS databanks and that was…vast to say the least. She had assumed that he wouldn't rest till he'd found her so it explained why she was so startled as to gasp when he plopped beside her, leaning on the controls to try and peer at what she was writing with a, "What's that?"

She let out a breath, her paper pressed to her chest so he wouldn't see. She had just finished what she was doing but she didn't want him to see just yet, "I was working on something."

"What?" he blinked at her, curious as ever, that familiar spark in his eyes and a smile on his face, his excitement renewed from the knowledge that this likely wasn't the last time they would see Clara.

She glanced down at the papers a moment before folding them and looking up at him, "Do you remember our version of Christmas?" she asked, even though she knew he remembered it, knew he'd never forget the Gallifreyan version of the holiday. It wasn't quite the same, religion wise, it was more a celebration of the winter season, as many other orders and planets did. It was a celebration of the cycle of life, it was a time where things were sparse and they were meant to be thankful for the blessings that they had.

"Of course," he nodded.

"Remember what we used to do with the children?"

He blinked and started to smile, only reaching into the inner pocket of his jacket and pulling out a folded paper as well, "I do."

She smiled at that and held out her papers to him, taking his as he handed them to her. It was a tradition in their families. Gifts weren't quite given but as the celebration was meant to remind them of what they were blessed with, their family had decided to write small letters to the members of it, exchange them with each other and read the words that meant so much, to see what their children thought of them, always something different every year, always appreciative in the spirit of the holiday. It was just them now, just the two of them, but the fact that they both remembered, that Christmas had inspired them to do this meant the world to them.

The Doctor gave her a small wink and moved across the room, to the other side-chair and sat down himself, both of them looking at each other through the rotor and smiling before they opened their papers and read the words meant only for them, their smiles widening as they read on.

A/N: **Really Important Note:**

I sincerely and deeply apologize for the chapters lacking the last week :( I had a note on my tumblr that the stories should have been updated Monday of last week but the week was just terrible and the last few days were equally as hectic with a family health scare in the middle of it all (everything ended up being ok). I really am so sorry to say this also but I've had to rework the stories I'll be posting this year and the ones that will feature next year. I've been posting 2 stories just about every day for the last 8 months but I've been forced to realize that I overestimated what I can handle and it's actually hurting me more than helping me. I'm going to continue this story every day but I'll be postponing my OUAT story about 2 weeks, which should give me time to fully finish this story. Once this story is finished, I'll be mostly posting only 1 story a day instead of 2.

I'll be doing OUAT after this story, then LotR, then TL5, and finishing the year with Star Wars. This means (and I'm devastated to do it) Big Bang Theory will be posted at the start of 2015. I actually think, in the long run, it'll be better for that to happen because there's about 150 chapters of that so far and that would mean days of posting it 2x a day or even 3x a day to finish in 2014 and that makes me feel like it'll be rushed :( I really am sorry to do it but it takes about 3-4 hours to really edit a chapter to a point where I'm happy with it before I post it the next day and that meant spending about 6-8 hours just editing a chapter for tomorrow. With the changes in schedule and interruptions, this really killed me in posting at the right times as I could have probably managed 3-4 hours instead :( I will, however, be attempting to post the DW series 8 stories during whatever story will be up at that time, if I work this right, I should be ahead enough in editing that I'd be able to manage that. I really am so sorry though :'(

But we have a nice long 20k word chapter for you all :) And...possibly a tiny surprise on tumblr very soon (though it's probably a very small, miniscule, not-compensating enough surprise).

As for this chapter...I was debating doing the Great Detective prequel but the end of it would have given away the house that the Time Lords rented here so I thought it would be best to just go right into this chapter ;) I debated revealing what the letters said, but I felt like they were very personal words to reveal at the current moment, but I can say we will see the letters again at a later point and see what they wrote to each other ;)

I never quite understood how the Doctor went from 'pond' to going to Simeon instead of actually looking for a pond that had larger traces of the telepathic qualities to it, surely something like that had to be giving off big energy readings? It seemed odd to me, so I thought perhaps the Judge had a different way than bringing up the Ponds to get the Doctor investigating and so the notion of the frozen pond would make more sense in being something he discovered along the way that way :)

And now for the Judge's Theme Song :) It's...Facing Demons by Zack Hemsey ;)

Some notes on reviews...

TL5 will be out this year ;)

There'll definitely be a few things that combine to give us the Judge's issue with humans, but that's definitely one part ;) I think it sort of adds to the alien quality, to have one Time Lord that's so fascinated by them, and one that's not quite impressed. Like, being from an advanced society like the Time Lords are, I sort of feel like how the Judge sees them might be how a majority of Time Lords view humans too so we get a cultural difference there too :) I can say there's tiny, tiny hints about a much larger issue she has with humans scattered through the story so far, we'll really see it come out in a few episodes ;) Lol, I think she's definitely a little judgemental of Humans :)

I really wanted the Clara/Doctor kiss, but I sort of feel like, after the River Song issue, the Doctor would be more aware and keen to be more considerate of the Judge and make sure that he is clear that she's his wife and not put her in a position like with River again :) I can say that TL6 will definitely keep the Doctor on his toes ;) She'll sort of have a quirk about things that can help out, but a little more extreme than that ;)


	13. The Bells of Saint John - Part 1

The Bells of Saint John - Part 1

The Doctor smiled softly as he sat on a small rug set up before a stone fireplace in the lower levels of a monastery located in Cumbria in 1207. He was garbed in the most uncomfortable Monk's robes he'd ever worn, even worse than those of the Headless Monks. They were thick and itchy and cumbersome but…he smiled anyway. Because just beside him was the Judge, sitting next to him, her head on his shoulder as she dozed off before the warm flames. She had selected a more nun's habit, or what passed as one for the times. It was very similar to a monk's robes, but simply in black instead with a white headdress on instead. He knew it was likely sacrilege for them to both don those clothes, especially considering they were actually married, but he had needed the quietest, most serene, most private place he could think of to really think about what to do next and…the TARDIS had selected this as it. The Monastery was a very private one, not quite as accepting of visitors intending to stay a while without taking vows as others so they had donned the garb to fit in more. The head abbot had known who they really were, the Judge had insisted that they at least know the truth as they would largely be abiding by the rules of the monastery while they stayed there, but she also knew that Doctor was a more affectionate man, tending to hold hands and give her a kiss on the temple and she didn't want the head abbot to be offended.

One of the abbots, it seemed, knew the Doctor from a prior adventure of his and had been more than welcoming and accommodating and accepting of them. Had told them to stay as long as they needed and to not worry about their relationship as husband and wife, that, so long as they performed any sacred wedded duties in private, they would be fine. That had left both Time Lords blushing quite a bit as, with the strain they had felt at their reunion, how it was slowly fading away, they hadn't quite done any 'duties' like that. They hadn't even been able to really sleep in the same room, in the same bed as each other just yet. But they were slowly getting more used to each other as the time went on, as they healed.

Right now, however, they had been looking at a portrait of Clara, her phrase to run written beneath it, resting on the floor beside him, trying to discuss what she might be, how she might exist as the same person across time and space and, more importantly, how they might find other versions of her or, the one they truly wanted, the original her.

The Doctor glanced back, hearing footsteps approaching and was loath to wake the Judge up from where she'd drifted off. He was just about to wake her when he heard the voices of those coming to see them as well.

"…call him the Mad Monk, don't they?" a young man was asking.

"They shouldn't," the head abbot stated, "He's definitely not a monk, monks are not to wed."

"He's married?!" the boy exclaimed.

The Doctor chuckled, even when people didn't know who he was, hadn't met him before as the boy's voice wasn't familiar to him, they still had that same reaction, shock that he was married. He couldn't blame them, he was quite sure that, on Gallifrey, a few people who met the Judge were shocked she was married as well…though that was probably more shock that she had married HIM than anything.

The Doctor glanced back when the footsteps stopped and someone cleared their throat to see the two men he'd heard approaching. He put a finger to his lips and nodded at the Judge, telling them to be quiet.

The abbot nodded, slowly and quietly making his way closer, whispering to the Doctor instead of trying to be heard across the room, "I'm sorry to intrude. But the bells of Saint John are ringing."

The Doctor inhaled sharply at that, frowning, because that usually meant something very serious that a prior companion was dealing with…and that meant, if Martha or Jack or Sarah Jane were calling him…then they needed help and fast.

"I'm going to need a horse," he murmured to them, the abbot nodding and turning to lead the monk out as he moved slowly, gently shaking the Judge awake, "Carah," he brushed hair away from her face and behind her ear, the backs of his knuckles gently stroking her cheek as he roused her, "Time to weak up Judy," he teased.

She let out a soft groan, "Remind me to kill Jack for even mentioning that name around you."

He chuckled, "Come on," he took her hand, helping her up, stepping back as she yawned and stretched, wincing as her bones cracked at the action, "We need to hurry."

She blinked and looked at him, still a bit sleepy, "What's wrong?"

"The TARDIS phone is ringing."

She grew serious nearly instantly, "Jack?"

He pushed down the sense of jealousy that sprang up at that, that her first thought went right to Jack instead of someone else that she knew had the number like Martha or a few other companions, and reminded himself that, if the Ponds or Rose were still around he would have instantly thought it was them too, being the first one a newly regenerated Time Lord saw did have a world of an impact on you, "I don't know," he admitted, "We need to go find out though."

She nodded and the two of them hurried out of the room, hoping that everything was alright on Earth…or at least in the future Earth.

~8~

The small smile that had been on his face returned as the Doctor galloped through the woods, following the young monk towards the small cave where they'd hidden the TARDIS from prying eyes. The Judge was on the horse behind him. The monastery was small, they couldn't afford to give out more than 2 horses, and that was fine with the Time Lords, they completely understood, wouldn't have needed the horses at all and been content to walk had it not been for the fact the phone was ringing. The Doctor was even more fine with it when the Judge had stated that they could share a horse, he was rather pleased she was sharing his horse instead of sharing with the young monk. He knew, logically, there was nothing to fear as the boy was a monk and was not going to do anything with his wife…or any other woman for that matter…but it did make his hearts warm to have the Judge behind him, close, with her arms wrapped around him as they went on this small journey.

Sadly though, it was over all too soon and before he knew it they were already dismounting and heading for the small cave hidden in a tiny clump of rocks in the middle of a small clearing. The monk tethered the horses to a branch and grabbed a torch, the Doctor not using his sonic to light it this time. This was a time of superstition and he didn't want to risk being called a wizard or demon or some other title that would end with him in trouble. So they waited the extra moment for the torch to light before the monk led them down into the darkness, to the bright blue telephone box sitting in the back of the small cave, the lights on within, illuminating the darkness even more.

But the Time Lords paid no attention to the lights as they were more concerned by the ringing of the TARDIS phone, especially as it was the one that was meant to be a dummy just behind the instruction panel. They knew the Doctor had mucked up rewiring and accidently made that the working phone, but it was still jarring to hear it ringing.

The Judge wasted no time in hurrying over to it, pulling her white headdress off her head and opening the panel to put the phone to her ear, "Jack?"

"Um…no, hello?" a young woman's voice answered, "Sorry…is this the right number?"

"The right number for what?" the Judge frowned, and looked at the Doctor, trying to think if there were any companions that sounded as young as the girl that he'd given the TARDIS number to. Or if perhaps the TARDIS had crossed the phone and timelines again.

"I can't find the internet."

The Judge blinked, "The…internet?"

"What?" the Doctor reached out and took the phone this time, "Sorry, sorry, did you just say the internet?"

"Yeah," the girl answered, "It's gone, the internet. Can't find it anywhere. Where is it? Why don't I have the internet?"

"But…it's 1207."

"I've got half past 3:00. Am I phoning a different time zone?"

"Yeah, you really sort of are."

"Will it show up on the bill?"

"Oh, I dread to think."

The Judge could tell this was about to turn into some sort of casual conversation, the Doctor could get rather lost in them instead of actually getting to the point, he was a bit of a rambler, and reached out to take the phone, "Could you tell us how you got this number?" she asked, trying not to give away how startled she was that someone actually had this number.

She knew the Doctor gave it to some companions, a few of them, she knew that she and the Doctor had given it to Jack, but she also knew that a good majority of the Doctor's companions knew the severity and danger in sharing that number with anyone. They wouldn't have just given it to some random girl just because her internet was out. And if it was something interfering with the internet, like…that Wire creature the Doctor mentioned once, she was sure that Jack or Martha would be the one calling.

"Woman in the shop wrote it down," the girl responded, "It's the helpline, isn't it? She said it was the best helpline out there. In the universe, she said."

"Could you describe this woman?" the Judge tried, "Did she give a name or anything?"

"I dunno, she was just the woman in the shop. So why isn't there internet? Shouldn't it just sort of...be there?"

The Judge shook her head, "I'm very sorry, but this isn't a computer helpli…"

The Doctor reached out and snatched the phone from her, "Hold on," he murmured.

"Doctor, this line is for important matters, not just because the TARDIS is trying to get you back to flying her about instead of letting her rot here."

"But she DOES need help with something, and that's what we do, we help."

"Help find the internet?" she gave him a look, before sighing, "I'm almost starting to miss the Doctor that would rather sulk in a house and sip tea than go out and investigate."

He gave her a small smile, "No you don't."

She rolled her eyes but smiled as well, "Help her find the wi-fi connection then," she gestured at the phone, "I'm going to go have a conversation with the TARDIS and ask her not to cross the timelines and phonelines unless it's life or death."

"Good luck!" he called as she disappeared into the TARDIS, "She barely ever listens to me and I've been flying her for centuries."

"Wife to wife," she shouted back, "She'll listen to me."

He opened his mouth to argue that…and realized she was probably right, which led to a pout before he shook his head and lifted the phone back to his ear, "You have clicked on the Wi-Fi button, haven't you?"

"Hang on," the girl murmured, "Erm... Wi-Fi?"

"Click on the Wi-Fi. You'll see a list of names. Is there one you recognize?"

"It's asking me for a password."

He looked at the phone when it went staticy for a moment, and listened intently, hearing a sort of muffled discussion going on. The girl must have covered the phone with her hand or pressed it to her shoulder like he had a moment ago.

"Is it an evil spirit?" the monk asked after a moment, still standing there with the torch.

"It's a woman," he shook his head, smiling when the monk crossed himself, if he had a similar religion, he probably would have done something like that when he'd first been about to marry the Judge. Women…they were scary when they wanted to be. But worth it.

"Hang on!" the girl's perky voice nearly startled him as she came back, "Just a mo. Ok…so…run. You. Clever. Boy. And. Remember. One!"

The Doctor's eyes widened as he heard her say that phrase, that same phrase that Clara and Oswin had said.

"Two!"

And now that he thought about it, the girl sounded exactly like Clara AND Oswin as well!

"Three!"

"What did you say?!" he shouted, not even concerned when he heard a startled gasp and the girl groan on the other end.

"Don't shout, you made me type it wrong…"

That was all he heard before he dropped the phone back behind the instruction panel and ran into the TARDIS shouting for the Judge as the doors shut behind him, a thought not even crossing his mind to what the monk would think when the bright blue box just disappeared from before his very eyes.

~8~

"Doctor!" the Judge called as the hurried after the Doctor, trying to pull her black robe off herself as she followed him out of the TARDIS. They were back in the modern era for Earth and him walking around like a monk would not help him not come across like a madman.

But he was too excited, already at the door of the house the TARDIS had traced the phone call to and banging on it. She had only just gotten her black garment off, revealing her purple plaid shirt and black pants when the door opened and a young woman, another Clara, was standing there in a red outfit just like she had been the first time they'd actually seen her in Victorian London, however more modern in style.

"Hello?" she eyed the Doctor oddly, not seeming to notice the bundled up black cloth in the Judge's arms.

"Sorry," the Judge stepped up, "But are you Clara?"

"Clara Oswald?" the Doctor added eagerly.

"Hello?" 'Clara' shook her head, not sure why they were asking.

"Clara Oswin Oswald?"

"Just Clara Oswald. What was that middle one?"

"Do you remember us?" the Doctor pointed between himself and the Judge.

"No," Clara frowned, "Should I?"

"Well her maybe," the Doctor pointed more at the Judge, "She's all…plaid," he gestured at her, "Plaidy?" he offered as well, wondering if she might recall what Oswin had called the Judge, "I'm…" he felt his neck and realized not only was he still wearing his monk robes but was without his bowtie, "Chinny?"

"Who are you?" Clara gave him a look as though she were growing more disturbed by him talking.

"My apologies for his rudeness," the Judge stepped up, "He's the Doctor, I'm the Judge."

"Really?" Clara scoff, "That's your names?"

"Yup," the Doctor grinned, "Just the Doctor and Judge."

The Judge smiled slightly, a little relieved she hadn't asked the typical 'Doctor Who?' though she realized that could also apply to her name as well. She'd rather avoid that particular question. It got old very quickly and was more than a little annoying though she knew the Doctor was secretly fond of being asked that.

"Ok," Clara gave him a look and shut the door on them, no one normal claimed their names were some sort of title like that.

"Hey, no!" the Doctor tried to knock on the door more, "Clara, please. Clara, we need to talk to you! Listen, please. Please!"

"Clara if we could just have a moment of your time," the Judge reached out and put a hand on the Doctor's arm to calm him down, knowing his frantic knocking wasn't going to help any. Humans, well, she never really understood something else about them. According to Gwen, parents taught their children all the time never to trust strangers, never to go with them…and yet the Doctor's companions always disregarded that and went with him, trusted him. She would never say they were wrong to trust him, but…it just never made sense. They spent their entire lives being taught not to trust a stranger or go with them, and they always broke it when it came to the Doctor. And right now, Clara was actually being rather smart in shutting and locking the door to keep them out. The Doctor's begging and panic wasn't going to help calm Clara enough to listen to them, but perhaps being professional would be.

"Why are you still here?" Clara's voice came through a small intercom beside them, her face appearing in the monitor as well, "Why are you here at all?"

"You phoned us," the Doctor pointed out, "You were looking for the internet."

"That was you?" Clara frowned.

"Course it was us."

"How else would we know?" the Judge agreed.

"How did you get here so fast?" Clara wondered.

"We just happened to be in the neighborhood," the Doctor gestured back to the TARDIS that was sitting just a few feet behind them, "On my mobile phone."

The Judge nearly rolled her eyes at that, Clara herself seemed just as intrigued by that statement, "When you say 'mobile phone,' why do you point at that blue box?"

"Because it's a surprisingly accurate description!"

"Ok, we're finished now," Clara grinned and shut down the intercom.

The Judge let out a sigh, "How do you even end up with Companions?" she had to ask the Doctor, this him seemed a bit more…out of touch with how to interact with humans and if he ended up 'creeping' them out like he might have with Clara, she genuinely couldn't understand it.

No, actually she could. Humans were curious and not quite bright, so it made sense that they'd just wander into the TARDIS with him despite what their instincts might be telling them.

The Doctor pointed a finger at her like he was going to say something before he turned and ran it through his hair, it was a bit true at the moment, he was failing rather terribly at getting through to Clara, "Come on," he turned and headed back to the TARDIS, stepping into it with her as he tried to pull the monk's cloth off him, "Right, don't be a monk. Monks are not cool!"

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek to keep from remarking about the bowtie in regards to its actual 'coolness' and followed him down under the console, to a series of panels around the base of a pole that the Doctor began to sift through, pulling out various bits of clothing.

"Ah-ha!" he cheered as he slipped a fez onto his head.

"No," the Judge said instantly, giving him a look.

He pouted but pulled the fez off and searched some more, picking up his old tweed jacket with one hand and another purple jacket in the other. He pursed his lips and moved his mouth, trying to debate what color to wear, when he glanced at the Judge out of the corner of his eye. He smiled, seeing the purple she was wearing and dropped his old coat in favor of the new one. Now…he just had to find the rest of the outfit to match.

~8~

"Purple?" the Judge smiled as she watched the Doctor swing on his new purple jacket, over his light purple vest, fixing the bowtie around his neck.

"What's wrong with purple?" he smirked back, "YOU wear it."

"Not all the time though," she pointed out, "And you tend to wear…that…" she gestured at what he was wearing, "More often than not. You hardly ever change."

He laughed at that, though he knew she was telling the truth. He'd noticed a pattern for the colors that she wore and the adventures that they had where as he tended to wear the same outfit no matter what, "I think I 'change' quite a lot," he winked.

She rolled her eyes at the reference to regeneration and followed him up to the main floor of the console room and out the door, back to the house that they'd tracked Clara to.

The Doctor hurried to the front door and knocked on it again, "Clara? Clara?" he looked back at the Judge, "She's still here, isn't she?"

"I don't think she'd leave the house with us right outside," the Judge mused, knowing if she locked herself in the house, she likely wouldn't have wanted to leave while that blue box was right there.

"Hello?" Clara's voice called after a moment.

"Ahh," the Doctor beamed and turned back to the intercom, but there was a blank screen, "See? Look, it's me! De-monked," he gave a little spin, "Sensible clothes."

"I promise you Clara, we're not mad," the Judge put a hand on his shoulder to stop him spinning, moving beside him, "Well, I'M not mad. We really would just like to speak to you a moment."

"I don't understand," Clara responded.

"Could we come in?" the Doctor tried.

"I don't know..."

"You don't know if we can come in?" the Judge blinked.

"Where I am," Clara seemed to correct, but then her voice broke and they instantly knew that something was terribly, terribly wrong, "I don't know where I am. Where am I? Please tell me, where I am! I don't know where I am!"

"Go!" the Judge stepped back, quickly ushering the Doctor to the door, the man already pulling out his sonic to unlock the door, the two of them hurrying inside only to find Clara lying on the floor unconscious. She ran to Clara's side, putting her fingers to her neck, "It's weak," she told him about Clara's heartbeat, "She's alive but…" she looked up and blinked, the Doctor following her gaze from where he too had been looking at the fallen girl to the stairs…where a young girl was standing on the base of the stairs in a white and pink dress…and her head on backwards. Her head, which was also curved in the back with a far more advanced screen on it, like a robot.

"I don't know where I am!" Clara's voice called from that curved portion of the head, and the Doctor stepped to the side, right before the robot to see Clara's image reflected in it, looking everywhere as though on a video but unable to see, "I don't know where I am! I don't understand. I don't know where I am! I don't know where I am! I don't understand! I don't know where I am! Where am I? I don't know where I am. I don't know where I am."

The Doctor's lips pursed as he lifted the sonic at the robot, flashing it and causing the hologram around it to disappear, leaving nothing but a very basic metal structure within, looking quite like a stick figure but metal.

"What is that?" the Judge frowned at it, "What sort of robot?"

"A walking base station," he muttered, checking the readings on the sonic, "A walking Wi-Fi base station, hoovering up data…" he glanced at Clara and back to her image in the curve of the robot's head, "Hoovering up people!" he looked back at the sonic as it beeped and then up the stairs, pocketing the sonic as he hurried up it, rushing to Clara's room, to the laptop she had that was sitting open on the desk. He grabbed it and hurried back down the stairs, sitting on the bottom of it and starting to type quickly, tracking the signal that the base station was operating on, the signal that could only be coming from the laptop.

The Judge remained silent, watching him work but moving her fingers from Clara's neck to her wrists, keeping a grip on her pulse point, keeping track of her heart as it grew weaker. She knew he was trying to hack into the system that the robot was operating on, trying to get Clara back.

"Oh, no, you don't," he muttered, typing faster, "Oh, no, you don't…have to reverse the upload, just need…" he bit his lip, his eyes flying across the screen, "Almost...no, no, no, no, no! Not this time, Clara, I promise you. Ha ha!" he cheered suddenly, a relieved breath leaving him as the computer beeped, making the robot beside him hum, a light shooting out from the curved head, landing on Clara's face.

A moment later Clara gasped, rolling towards the Judge as she coughed, subconsciously seeing comfort from her experience even though she didn't wake.

"Brilliant," the Judge smiled at the Doctor, "Well done dear. She's back," she put a hand on Clara's shoulder, squeezing it and rubbing it as the girl slowly settled, more into sleep than the unconsciousness they'd found her in, "She's fine."

"She will be," the Doctor swore, looking at the laptop and sending one final message to whoever had done this to her.

'Under our protection – The Doctor and the Judge.'

~8~

Clara, as it turned out, was quite a deep sleeper. She hadn't woken even when the Doctor had picked her up and carried her to the bedroom he'd spotted at the top of the stairs. She hadn't so much as stirred when he'd puttered around, trying to set up the room to be bright when she woke. The Judge had stood to the side, watching him get a glass of water, a vase of flowers, and a plate of snacks out for the girl. It was a familiar sight. He had done it often with their children, when they were ill but on the cusp of recovering. He'd try to make their rooms brighter with flowers and pictures, seeing up their favorite juices and snacks right next to them to wake to so they'd be able to start their true recovery day on a good and positive note. He'd done it with Clara then too, it was probably a traumatic notion, given by how frantic and panicked she had sounded when she was crying out for help, and he wanted to provide her with a bit of comfort in recovering from it.

The Judge had looked at a few knickknacks here and there, some books that appeared well worn and well loved, trying to get a better idea of who Clara was, how she could exist. She just wanted to know more about the girl that had died two times before trying to help them face down an enemy, a girl who had very nearly come to a third time. She'd found a book, 101 Places to See, with a few notes in it, a leaf on page one with a few other papers and clippings marking other pages. There was an inscription on the front that listed it as belonging to Ellie Ravenwood.

THAT had made her pause, that name sounded familiar.

Now, though, she and the Doctor were sitting outside the house, waiting to make sure that Clara would be alright, having removed the laptop from the house to keep her safe. They were just going to sit out there, make sure that no more robots tried to sneak in, while examining the one that had come so close to harming Clara. That was where they were, the two Time Lords sitting huddled next to each other, the Judge with a frown of concentration on her face as she watched the robot intently, the Doctor explaining different parts here and there. He had a small smile on his face as he began to teach her more about that particular base station. There were robots on Gallifrey, but they didn't quite have a need for a walking base station like this. He'd seen a fair few in his adventures and he was rather…pleased that she was taking an interest in learning more about it and the things he'd encountered in his time.

"Hello?" a voice called, startling them both and making them jump, looking up to see that Clara was awake and peeking out the round window at the top of the house.

"Hello!" the Doctor cheered as he stood, "Are you all right?"

"I'm in bed," Clara stated.

"Never would have guessed that one," the Judge muttered, stepping up as well, "We know," she told Clara.

"Don't remember going."

"You wouldn't," she added.

Clara seemed disturbed by that implication, "What did I miss?" she eyed them, as though she weren't sure if THEY were the ones that had knocked her out or not.

The Doctor, though, seemed to completely miss the meaning of her look and smiled, "Oh, quite a lot, actually," he told her easily, pulling a small notepad out of his pocket and starting to read out the list he'd made, "Angie called, she's going to stay over at Nina's. Apparently that's all completely fine and you shouldn't worry like you always do, for God's sake, get off her back."

"Don't," the Judge cut in as he flipped a page, "Always worry. Children are meant to make you worry."

"Also, your dad phoned. Mainly about the government. He seems very cross with them, I've got several pages on that…" and, indeed, he did end up turning a number of pages, "I said I'd look into it."

"And he has a right to," the Judge mused, "They can be utterly corrupt," she frowned, the Doctor reaching out to rub her back, knowing that she was thinking of the last time few times the government got involved with Torchwood. One ended up trying to trade innocent human children for their own lives while the other time ended up burning humans that wouldn't die in factories. There were…many issues with many governments and they were both quite firm that they would check into it. The last thing the Doctor wanted as another Margaret the Slitheen infiltrating the government.

"I fixed that rattling noise in the washing machine," the Doctor continued, "It was giving the Judge here a headache, then she indexed the kitchen cupboards, always was one for order, while she did that I optimized the photosynthesis in the main flowerbed, and then assembled the quadrocycle."

"Assembled the what?" Clara shook her head, as though, out of all that, the quadrocycle was the one thing that was out of place.

"I found a disassembled quadrocycle in the garage," he told her.

"I don't think you did."

The Doctor started to smile at that, looking at the Judge, far too pleased, "I invented the quadrocycle!"

"Not the first time you've done something like that," she shook her head, "When this is over, you're going to disassemble that quadrocycle."

He pouted at that.

"What happened to me?" Clara called, interrupting the Doctor just as he appeared about to open his mouth again.

"What's the last thing you remember?" the Judge asked her.

"I was scared. Really scared. I didn't know where I was."

"Do you know now?" the Doctor eyed her.

"Yes."

"Well, then, you should go to sleep, because you're safe now, I promise," the Doctor winked, "Goodnight, Clara."

"Yes, goodnight," the Judge turned and sat down again, leaning forward to look more intently at the base station once more, as though that action meant the end of the conversation, the Doctor moving to join them once more as Clara closed her window and ducked inside.

"Are you guarding me?" Clara shouted down to them, opening the window again.

The Doctor glanced at the Judge who shrugged, so he turned to Clara and smiled, "Well, yes. Yes, we are."

"Are you seriously going to sit down there all night?" she laughed.

"Most likely," the Judge nodded, "This one won't budge till he's taken this thing apart and rebuilt it," she jerked her head at the Doctor but gestured at the base station.

"Well, then," Clara mused, "I'll just have to join you out there then."

"What?" the Doctor blinked, but Clara had already disappeared inside.

"Humans," the Judge murmured, "Always interrupting us."

The Doctor felt himself smile slightly at that, he knew he should defend the humans, but he was more than a little pleased that she didn't want their time together interrupted.

~8~

The Doctor wasn't entirely sure how Clara was able to guess, but she'd come bearing a peace offering of three cups of tea, rather good tea. She claimed it was to thank them for helping her, reassured by the Doctor's good natured answer to her question that they had been the ones to help her instead of harm her, and he was sure that she HAD just brought them tea to say thanks. But it had helped the Judge accept her presence there so he took it as a very good move on Clara's part to have not joined them immediately but only after she had the tea in hand.

"I like your house," the Doctor murmured as he sipped his tea, Clara setting down an extra chair to sit on, across from them and nowhere near close enough to see what they were doing, another thing that the Judge seemed to appreciate.

"It isn't mine," Clara shook her head, "I'm a friend of the family."

"Aren't you the governess?" the Judge frowned at her, "A hired babysitter. A friend of the family wouldn't stay so long and take care of the children unless you were closer than that."

"There were photos and years on the frames," the Doctor offered when Clara opened her mouth to ask how they knew that, they had seen some in the small sitting room, a line of family photos. 2 of which had included Clara, both quite a few months apart, nearly a year apart, though one had an extra woman in it that was not in the second.

Clara was silent a moment at that, eyeing the two of them as they sipped their tea, both of them looking at her the same way she'd seen them looking at that thing set up before them, as though they were trying to work out a puzzle, "Are you going to explain what happened to me?"

The Doctor looked at the Judge who took a breath and nodded, turning to the side and picking up the laptop that was resting on the ground beside her chair, handing it to him to open and show Clara, "Might as well. She was the one attacked."

"Something attacked me?" Clara frowned.

"There's something in the wi-fi," the Doctor explained, "This whole world is swimming in Wi-Fi. We're living in a Wi-Fi soup!"

"To point dear?" the Judge gave him a look to focus.

"Right," he cleared his throat, "Suppose something got inside it. Suppose there was something living in the wi-fi, harvesting human minds, extracting them. Imagine that. Human souls trapped like flies in the World Wide Web, stuck for ever, crying out for help."

"Isn't that basically Twitter?" Clara joked.

"Since when do you know what Twitter is?" the Judge frowned at her, "Not 6 hours ago you were asking us how to get internet connectivity."

"Oh," Clara gasped, her eyes widening as she thought on that, as she thought on when, exactly, did she know what Twitter even was, when she recognized it and found many more other things that she shouldn't and hadn't known that she now did, "Oh. That's weird. I know all about computers now in my head. Where did that come from?"

"A computer can hack another computer," the Doctor mused, "A living, sentient computer...maybe that could that hack people?" he shrugged, "Edit them. Rewrite them. You were uploaded for a while Clara."

"And when the Doctor downloaded you," the Judge started to nod, working out what the Doctor had, "Perhaps he downloaded something else with you?"

"Something else that I very much doubt you're going to be allowed to keep," the Doctor slowly stood and began to look around, now on alert, now cautious as he eyed the street intently…and then he saw it, across the street, a figure standing under a streetlight, unmoving, rigid, just staring right at them but making no move at all, "You two, inside that box, now," he ordered.

"I'm sorry?" Clara coughed on her tea a bit, but the Judge had stood, and moved to pick up the laptop that the Doctor set on his chair.

"Clara if he says get in the TARDIS, you get in the TARDIS," the Judge told her, reaching out to take Clara's arm, tugging her up.

"What, the three of us? We're never gonna fit in there."

"Trust me," the Doctor started to step back towards them, "You'll understand once we're in there."

"I bet I will!" she snorted.

"Clara…" the Judge tugged her.

But Clara pulled back and shook her head, "What is that box, anyway? Why do you have a box? Is it like a snogging booth?"

"A what?!" the Doctor looked at her from where he'd been trying to gather up the base station to move it with them.

"Did you just say snogging booth?" the Judge stared at her.

"Is that what you do?" Clara shook her head, "You bring a booth? There's such a thing as too keen. I mean there's TWO of us and one of you, down boy," Clara smirked.

"No, no," the Doctor shook his head, "No snogging, no snogging you," he added, starting to flush when he realized that, in saying that he was implying that he and the Judge would be snogging, "No snogging at all, Rule 1."

"Do you mean that's the new rule one or are you trying to say that rule one is reversing that statement?" the Judge turned to him, a little amused he was getting so flustered, but also feeling quite…awkward about what he'd said before, that they snogged. They hadn't. They hadn't even properly kissed on the lips since they'd reunited. It was just…very weird to even be bringing this up to Clara, a girl they just met, well just met THIS version of her.

She cleared her throat, trying to keep a flush off her face, the whole idea of snogging, of kissing, it was…she genuinely didn't know. They'd only just gotten comfortable with touching a little more, she hadn't really thought of kissing him. And now that it was brought up, she truly didn't know. She really didn't know if they were ready for it, if she was ready for it, or anything like that. Kissing was…another form of intimacy she wasn't sure they'd reached yet.

However, the answer never came from the Doctor, because another thing drew his attention away. The lights in the houses around them were starting to come on, all of them one right after the other, nearly instantly, too fast to be people slowly waking from hearing Clara shouting.

"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is…" the Judge breathed, spotting it as well.

"I think it is dear," the Doctor murmured, "Clara," he glanced at her, "Look around you."

Clara frowned but turned, blinking when she saw the lights for herself, "What's going on? Is the Wi-Fi switching on the lights?"

"The lights don't operate on wi-fi," the Judge reminded her.

"But we've already seen that it can operate the people," the Doctor swallowed, "The people are switching on the lights. The Wi-Fi is switching on the people."

Clara started to turn in a circle, looking up and down the street, when she spotted the figure standing under the light as well, "What is that thing?"

"A walking base station, you saw one earlier," the Doctor told her.

"I saw a little girl," Clara shook her head, tilting it as she squinted at the figure, a man in a hoodie.

"Must have taken an image from your subconscious, thrown it back at you," the Doctor shrugged, "Active camouflage."

"But that would mean…" the Judge looked at him, concerned, "That would mean they could be everywhere and we wouldn't know it!"

The Doctor spun around, flashing the sonic, trying to see if there were any more base stations disguised as telephone poles or fire hydrants.

Clara though, noticed something else, "What's going on?" she pointed over the house, directing their attention to where the lights of London were starting to go out, putting the entire area, save their street, into darkness, "All our lights on, everyone else's off. Why?"

The Judge looked up and down the road, "The entire street's lights are on," she turned to the Doctor, "Please tell me it's not what I think it is?"

"A runway?" he offered and she gave him an unamused look, "I won't say it then."

"What?" Clara shook her head.

"Some planes have wi-fi," the Doctor told her.

"I'm sorry?"

"This is a runway," the Judge turned to her, "For a plane."

"We must be one hell of a target right now," the Doctor agreed and looked up as the roar of an engine started to drift down to them from above, drawing all their attention up to the sky where the lights in the shape of a plane were truly heading for them, "Box, now!" he cried, running for the doors and pushing them open, ushering the Judge and Clara in, hurrying after the Judge to the console where she was tossing the laptop onto the side-seat and rushing to the controls. He pulled a lever and nearly toppled them all over as the TARDIS jolted into action, "Yes, it's a spaceship," he called to Clara as the girl stared around, "Yes, it's bigger on the inside. No, we don't have time to talk about it."

"Right," the Judge murmured, "I forgot this one hasn't seen the TARDIS yet."

The Doctor smiled slightly at that, he could only imagine how many more Claras might be out there that hadn't seen the TARDIS. Eventually he was sure it would get hard to keep track but, for right now at least there was just the one with them.

"But..." Clara tried to form a sentence as she gripped the railings and used it to help bring herself closer, "But... but... it's..."

"Shut up, please, short hops are difficult," he hurried between the side controls and back.

"They shouldn't be," the Judge called to him, "You need to refresh with the manual when this is over."

"Can't."

"Why?"

"Threw it in a supernova."

"What, did you not agree with it again?" she gave him a look.

"It was wrong!" he defended with a light huff.

"Bigger," Clara finally managed an actual word, "On the inside. Actually bigger."

The Doctor threw a lever and the TARDIS sparked, forcing him to jump back, "That was meant to happen," he pointed at the Judge as though to defend himself before she could even remark on it.

"No, it was not," she shook her head, the two of them heading for the door at the same time.

"Come on Clara," he called back to her.

"Are we going back out there?" Clara stopped behind them, not wanting to run out onto the street where the plane was heading right for them.

"We've moved."

"Spaceship," the Judge reminded her, "It can fly."

"Fly away?" Clara let out a breath, "We're away from the plane?"

"Not exactly!" the Doctor grinned, pulling the doors open and…nearly toppling right out into the aisle of the plane where the TARDIS had set down at the back of it. Unfortunately he'd reached out to grab something for balance and only managed to take the Judge's hand, pulling her down and into the plane with him, the two of them stumbling to catch their footing.

The plane's alarms were beeping, the turbulence shaking everything, but all the passengers and flight attendants were peaceful, sleeping in their chairs, completely unaware of what was happening.

"How did we get here?!" Clara gasped, nearly falling out of the box after them, her tea cup still in her hands.

"Yet again, spaceship, Clara," the Judge called, following the Doctor towards the cockpit, "It can fly."

"Yes, it's all very science-y!" the Doctor agreed, not quite helping to explain it at all.

"Is this the plane, the actual plane?" Clara looked around.

"No, we just decided to find another plane that was in the midst of crashing," the Judge shouted back, feeling her irritation starting to rise. Honestly, where ELSE would they be if not in the same plane? What other plane would be crashing right at that moment? They hadn't exactly told her that the box could travel in time as well, it should have been assumed the second they were in the plane that it was THE plane.

"What about them?" she nodded at the passengers, "Are they all dead?"

"Asleep," the Doctor scanned one quickly, "Switched off by the Wi-Fi, never mind them!" he struggled slightly, but finally made it to the cockpit door, flashing the sonic on it to unlock it, nearly falling inside it as the turbulence hit. He pushed himself up straighter and looked up to see he was between the two co-pilots, both unconscious, the Judge and Clara behind him, the three of them wedging into the cramped space.

"What is going on?" Clara shouted above the noise of the crashing plane, "Is this real? Please tell me what is happening!?"

"How are we supposed to answer one question when you spout another the second after you ask it!" the Judge huffed.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor made an attempt though, "And this is my wife, the Judge. We're aliens from outer space. We're over 1,000 years old. We've got two hearts. And I don't think either of us can fly a plane," he glanced at the Judge who shook her head, "Can you?" he looked back at Clara.

"No!" Clara yelled.

"Ooh!" he grimaced, "Fine, let's do it together," he reached forward and grabbed the throttle, pulling it back with all his strength, letting out a grunt of effort, the two women, falling back slightly against the wall as the plane began to tilt up, just barely skimming the tops of the houses below and heading up into the air once more.

The Doctor let out a cheer of excitement as the plane continued to drift up and up and up, and looked back at the Judge, "Do you think a victory roll would be too show-off-y?"

"Yes," she answered instantly, making him laugh.

"What the hell's going on?" one of the pilots mumbled as they started to wake up, the plane now useless to whatever was using the wifi.

But, just to be safe, the Doctor flashed the sonic along the panels, cutting the wi-fi off, "Well, I'm blocking your Wi-Fi, so you're waking up for a start. Tell you what," he patted the pilot on the arm, "Do you want to drive?" he straightened and tugged on his bowtie proudly before he turned to leave, a little whistle on his lips as he headed for the TARDIS.

"Come on, Clara," the Judge reached out and turned the woman, ushering her out of the cockpit, "If you aren't quick, he won't notice till it's too late and he WILL leave you behind. And his timing is really abysmal when he tries to pick people up."

Clara just nodded to herself, not quite listening, still rather a bit in shock, and clutched her teacup to her, taking one last sip, not entirely sure how she'd managed to not spill her tea through all of that, it should have been impossible.

A/N: Lol, oh Clara with your snog-box remarks :) I'm very excited to have gotten to Clara, I have a lot planned for her and the Doctor and the Judge ;) I'm very excited for tomorrow's chapter }:) I can also say there IS a pattern to the colors that the Judge wears ;)

Also, as for the small surprise I mentioned I'd put on tumblr yesterday, it is...a picture of me :) I got a few requests over the last 2 years about what I look like and I never really felt the need to post a picture, but I really felt so awful for the delays and rescheduling and pushing some stories to next year that I thought maybe it might make up for it in a tiny way. So...there's a picture of me on my tumblr for you all ;) The easiest way to find it if it gets buried in posts is to, in the url of my tumblr add /tagged/hello after the dot-com ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I'll be using the movies for LotR, but with a few tweaks and references to events from the book :) Oh I know the history is very long ;) I took a Tolkien seminar in college and we each broke out into groups and read some of the more background/history books for LotR and would present on it :) Star Wars will be the movie I'd say about 99%, mostly because, being the prequel movies, a lot of what comes after might change if I do it right ;) One of my friends in High School was obsessed with Star Wars so I've heard quite a few terrifying tales ;) I'll definitely look that up though, it sounds familiar :)


	14. The Bells of Saint John - Part 2

The Bells of Saint John - Part 2

Clara eyed the two Time Lords as they quietly worked at the controls of the TARDIS, it seemed like each of them had taken a half of them, one side each. It made sense what with there being controls both in the middle and around the edges of the small space, but she couldn't help but watch them work a moment or two before she set her empty teacup down on the middle controls and walked closer to them.

"Ok," she took a breath, "When are you going to explain what the hell is going on?"

"Breakfast," the Doctor stated, hitting a switch up and causing the TARDIS to jolt slightly.

"Still working on your parking then?" the Judge managed a small joke, a little more at ease now that they weren't on a crashing plane any longer.

The Doctor just laughed and headed for the door, the Judge moving around the console to join him, but Clara ran out after them, a frown on her face, "I ain't waiting till breakfast."

"You're quite impatient," the Judge remarked, "Bossy as well."

Clara simply crossed her arms, not rejecting that statement though.

"It's a time machine," the Doctor explained, "You never have to wait for breakfast," he winked and moved to the doors, throwing them open to allow sunlight to stream into the room before he stepped out, the sound of clapping and cheering starting the moment he was outside, "Thank you."

The Judge let out a breath and shook her head, "He has a rather large flair for the dramatics," she warned Clara before heading after the man.

Clara paused only a moment before following as well, stepping out of the TARDIS to see that they were on the South Bank of the Thames. A group of people had gathered around the TARDIS, applauding what they likely thought was a magic act, the box that mysteriously appeared out of nowhere.

"Thank you," the Doctor chuckled, bowing at them, "Yes, magic blue box."

The Judge moved beside him as he pulled the fez out of an inner pocket of his jacket, "So much for that 'sticking to the shadows' nonsense then?" she gave him a pointed look, having heard his discussion with Dorium just after he'd reset time with River Song. He'd implied that he would be quiet, that he'd remain hidden, unnoticed…and now he was making the box appear in front of a crowd of people in broad daylight.

The Doctor pointed at her like he was going to say something before turning instead, having no argument or defense, and began to pass around the fez instead, "All donations gratefully accepted. Roll up, roll up, give us your dosh. Pennies, pounds, anything you've got," he spun around and pressed the fez into the Judge's hand, "Keep collecting, dear, we need enough for…"

"For breakfast," she cut in gently, ushering him to the TARDIS, "I know. You never carry money."

She was getting nearly as bad as he was. She didn't have much money on her either. When one spent time in a time machine and going off to different planets, the idea of currency became rather lacking. It was always a different currency everywhere they went so there was no point to actually carry any money with them. More often than not, the currency they had couldn't be exchanged. She did have a small bank account on Earth, courtesy of Jack, he'd done it for all his teammates. In case anything ever happened to them, he wanted to make sure their families would be ok, not that they had much by way of families in the end. She hadn't understood why he'd done the same for her, all she had was the Doctor and he didn't need money at all. But Jack had been reasonable, had said that she didn't know how long she'd stay on Earth for, that for all they knew she might end up there long after he and the other team broke up and aged and died (well, not HIM, but still, the point stood). He'd wanted to thank her for her help, to make sure that she would be taken care of and have something to support her if Torchwood had ever disbanded, which it did for a time.

But she didn't have a card to it, would have had to go to the bank to collect even a small amount of the money and that would take time as well as likely alert the wi-fi and security that she was there. It would give them the ability to track who she was and find out those close to her that were still alive and she wasn't going to put her team in jeopardy. Not over breakfast.

"Just popping back to the garage," the Doctor waved to the crowd as he headed for the TARDIS, being sure to close the doors behind him so that others couldn't wander in.

"Garage?" Clara popped up beside the Judge looking rather confused.

"Ignore that last remark," she offered, "The Doctor likes to call the TARDIS any number of things instead of what she should be called."

Clara shook her head, not entirely sure she wanted to know what the Doctor called the machine, she'd heard some…rather out there names that a few old boyfriends had called their cars, "So, this is tomorrow, then? Tomorrow's come early?"

"Time machine Clara," she repeated, "We just skipped ahead in time. WE were the ones that came early."

The two women turned around to the sound of the applause starting up again to see that the Doctor was coming out of the TARDIS, pushing two vehicles with him, one a motorbike and another a small Vespa, "Thank you, thank you," he laughed, setting them to stand and shutting the door behind him once more, "Tomorrow, a camel!"

"We're are NOT putting a camel in the TARDIS, Doctor," the Judge called as she and Clara headed over to him.

The Doctor merely smirked playfully and handed the two girls helmets, taking the fez from the Judge to empty its contents into his pockets, slipping the fez onto the head of a passing boy, before he hopped onto the motorbike, "Judge?" he gave her a smile and nodded behind him.

The Judge hesitated a moment before taking a breath and getting on behind him.

"Is…that one for me?" Clara nodded at the small scooter.

"Yeah," the Doctor grinned, "Just keep close," he told her, fairly convinced that she wasn't going to take off on them given that the last version of her had stuck around solely to see what was going to happen next and because she was curious. He got the sense that this her was equally so.

Clara shrugged and got on the little scooter, taking off a moment later after the Doctor, cameras snapping around them as the crowd tried to take pictures of the 'magicians' as they departed.

They drove a fair distance away from the TARDIS though Clara didn't speak again till they were crossing Westminster Bridge, "If you've got a flying time machine, why are we on these things?"

"I don't take the TARDIS into battle," the Doctor called above the noise of the bikes and the wind and traffic around them.

"Because it's made of wood?"

"Because it's the most powerful ship in the universe and I don't want it falling into the wrong hands," the Doctor told her.

"The point of a secret weapon is that it remains secret," the Judge agreed, though the Doctor had likely not really helped the whole secrecy part with how he'd had the TARDIS appear just then.

"Got it," Clara nodded, falling silent as they rode past the Horse Guards Parade and under the Admiralty Arch, still not entirely sure where they were going but trusting them one more time that, perhaps, when they got wherever they were going, they'd tell her what was going on.

~8~

The Time Lords and Clara were gathered around the table of a small rooftop café that overlooked St. Paul's Cathedral, another building in the distance tall and pointed, shining in the sun. The Doctor had the laptop open before him, the Judge finishing up her beverage while looking at her mobile phone, one that she rarely used unless it was to contact Jack or, in rare cases, UNIT, making sure that he and the new team were ok and to warn them about the wi-fi. Clara was watching the two of them, eating the last of her breakfast fruit and smoothie.

"So if we can travel anywhere in time and space, why did we travel to the morning?" Clara wondered, "What's the point in that?"

"Whoever's after us spent the whole night looking for us," the Doctor murmured, his gaze still focused on the screen, "Are you tired?"

"Yes."

"Then imagine how they feel," he smiled, "They came the long way round."

"We couldn't risk going too far into the future either," the Judge added, setting her phone down, "Now that they're aware we know about them, we couldn't risk going too far and having them up their attempts or advance their plans. We needed to be close enough where they'd have spent time trying to find us first but not exactly focused on rushing whatever they're doing with the wi-fi."

Clara nodded slowly at that, it did make sense. She had been about to ask why they'd selected the next morning and not just jumped months into the future after whoever it was that was after them had given up the search for them. In those months, they could have ended up 'hoovering up' half the world.

"They've got to be close," the Doctor muttered, frowning at the laptop, "Definitely London, going by the signal distribution. I can hack the lowest level of their operating system, but I can't establish a physical location, the security's too good."

The Judge was silent, eyeing the Doctor intently at that, not entirely sure if he was trying to tempt Clara into using her new computer knowledge to assess what she knew and how advanced she'd become or if he genuinely couldn't hack the security.

"Are you aliens?" Clara asked.

The Judge looked at her for that, "Was that not clear in the plane?" she wondered, quite certain that the Doctor had at least implied that, much like she knew her tended use of the generalizing 'Humans' tended to tip others off that they were not, in fact, human.

"We are, yes," the Doctor nodded instead, "Ok with that?"

"Fine, yeah," Clara shrugged, "I think I'm fine."

"Oh, good."

"So what happens if you do find them?" Clara inquired, "What then?"

"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged this time, "I can't tell the future, I just work there."

"The future's going to fire you one day," the Judge remarked, "You're terrible at your job."

"I'll have you know that I'm brilliant at my job," he stuck his tongue out at her.

"You blew up the Universe," the Judge gave him a look.

"Right, so…brilliantly bad," he grumbled.

"So you don't have a plan then?" Clara frowned at that.

"You know what I always say about plans?" he started to smile.

"What?"

"That things are better," the Judge cut in, "I believe his favored phrase is, a thing is like a plan but more brilliant or something like that."

"Well people always have plans or things," Clara mused.

"Yes," the Doctor agreed with that, "Yes, I suppose they do," he glanced at the Judge a moment before he nodded at the computer. She shrugged and he slid the computer over to her, allowing her to look at it. He knew that there was as much a chance that she'd work it out as he'd had luck trying to do, but she had worked with Torchwood for a while and perhaps she'd picked up something, "So tell me," he looked at Clara, "How long have you been looking after those kids?"

"About a year, since their mum died."

"Ok," he murmured slowly, "But why you? The Judge was right, family friend, we get that, but there must have been others. Why did it have to be you? I mean, you don't…you don't really seem like a nanny."

Clara fiddled with her straw a moment before reaching out to the laptop, "May I?" she asked the Judge.

The Judge, however, pulled the laptop back, away from Clara. Firstly, Clara was a human, which meant, more often than not, she'd likely do something that would mess up and alert the others that they were there. Then there was the fact that they only knew that Clara knew what Twitter was, it wasn't any indication that she actually knew how to use computers. Then there was the fact that, if the Doctor genuinely couldn't work out what to do, chances were Clara wouldn't either. On top of that, if this was just some test by the Doctor to see what Clara could do, then he should have been open about it.

"Sorry, what?" the Doctor scoffed, reaching out to take the laptop as well, pulling it further away from Clara.

"You need to know where they physically are," Clara reasoned, "Their exact location."

"Yes."

"I can do it," she reached out to try and pull the laptop towards herself.

"Oi, I need that!" he pulled it back, only serving to start a tug of war for the Judge to watch.

"You've hacked the lower operating system. I'll have their physical location in under five minutes. Go and get a coffee."

"If I can't find them, you can't."

"They uploaded me, remember. I've got computing stuff in my head."

"So do I."

"I have insane hacking skills."

"I'm from space, and the future, with two hearts and...27 brains."

"And I can find them in under five minutes, plus photographs. 27?"

"Ok, slight exaggeration."

"At this point, dear," the Judge cut in dryly, "I'm not even sure you managed half a brain," she stood up, "I'LL get the coffee."

The Doctor pouted, "How come you get to get the coffee?"

The Judge gave him a look, shaking her head at how he'd just been ranting about how he wanted to be the one hacking the system, "Because if I let you go in there," she pointed behind her, "You'll get distracted by the pastries and cakes and cookies and come back her already halfway to a sugar-high and without any manner of drinks that didn't involve copious amounts of sugar."

The Doctor pointed at her like he was going to argue, only to run his hand through his hair instead, she was right.

"Now," she looked between them, "You two, stay here, stay put, and don't start fighting," she pointed at them warningly, "Behave yourselves."

Clara and the Doctor watched as she turned to head inside, before Clara looked at the Doctor, "She's a mother isn't she?"

"How can you tell?" the Doctor turned back to her.

"She's got that mum voice."

He smiled, "She is," he nodded, though his smile started to fade, "Was," he cleared his throat, "She does rather have that mum voice down doesn't she? Never quite got the hang of the dad voice."

Clara stared at him, "YOU are a father?"

"Was," he swallowed hard.

"Wait…the…two of you?" Clara gestured between him and the direction that the Judge had gone, shocked that she hadn't realized they were together, there was no ring on his finger.

The Doctor gave her a small smile again and tapped the laptop, "Would you like me to…"

"No!" Clara tugged it closer to him, "I've got it."

"Don't feel bad if you can't get in," he warned, crossing his arms and sitting back, "The security is absolute."

"It's never about the security, it's about the people," she murmured, opening the laptop and starting to tap away.

The Doctor glanced over at the door the Judge had entered, watching her approaching the order counter a moment, before he returned his attention to watching Clara work, his mind racing as he tried to work out who she was…

~8~

The Judge glanced back at the Doctor, able to see him sitting on the patio portion of the café, for a moment before she focused on the order counter. She walked right past the tasty treats, now more sure than ever that she'd made the right choice in not allowing the Doctor to make the journey in there, his sweet tooth in this incarnation was worse than all three of her children combined when they'd been small. Though…she could admit that her granddaughter, Susan, had one that was nearly twice as bad.

"Hello," she greeted an older man that was working behind the counter, "I'd like two more cappuccinos and a small tea please."

"Just a moment, ma'am," the man smiled, turning to start the cappuccino machine.

The Judge's small smile fell when she saw a small light flicker over the man, saw him stiffen. She did that often, watched people when they made or prepared food or beverage. Sometimes, in Torchwood, Jack would think it funny to mess with the food slightly, Owen was worse when he was irritated with you, so she'd made it a habit to watch people during moments like that. She'd been watching the man, she'd seen the light, so when he turned to her, his face blank, she wasn't surprised to hear some sort of threat in his voice, she knew there was wi-fi there, it was how they'd been able to use the laptop, but they'd hoped that, with how the Doctor had made sure to sonic the connection that the laptop had had to the prior connection that attacked Clara and sever it, that they'd be safe.

It appeared not.

"You realize you haven't the slightest chance of saving your little friend?" the man asked, a slightly different intonation to his words, someone else was speaking through him.

"Lip synching are we?" she eyed the man, her hands absently rubbing the sides of her legs.

The man blinked as another flash of light struck him, "Oh yes," the man laughed, nodding at a small radio on the wall, "I love this song."

The Judge frowned and waited, seeing the tell-tale light flash again.

"Well aren't you a clever girl," the man nearly sneered, "To work out that it isn't, in fact, the old man speaking," only to go back to work a moment later.

"I'm speaking," a voice said behind her, making her jump and spin around, a waitress standing there, a tray pressed to her hip, "Just using whatever's to hand," she glanced over, looking through the window, observing Clara and the Doctor, "Oh, she's rather pretty, isn't she? Aren't you afraid your beau will stray?"

"No," the Judge stated, fully confident in that.

"You're that sure?" she smirked, "What if it wasn't his choice?" she taunted, "I could make him, you know."

"I've yet to meet a creature or person besides our children that could change his mind," the Judge shook her head.

"Well then, I want you to take a look around. Go on. Have a little stroll. And see how impossible your situation is. Go on. Take a look, I do love showing off."

"Doesn't that arrogance often end up being what does in the villain at the end of a story?" the Judge countered.

The waitress gave her another smirk before the electricity crackled and she went off about her business, leaving the Judge tense, glancing out to see the Doctor outside. She knew she could call out to him, that he'd hear her and come help her, but…she didn't want to leave Clara alone, not now that they were surrounded. She'd failed to help protect the woman once before, she wasn't going to drag the Doctor away and leave Clara vulnerable. She could handle this, she was sure of it, she could, and…if she couldn't…the Doctor was right out there, he'd be there in an instant if she called out.

The light flashed and a little girl stood, the Judge cursing herself for having mentioned children before, knowing that the one controlling the wi-fi was using it purposefully to get to her, "Just let me show you what control of the Wi-Fi can do for one," the girl smiled, "Stop!" she shouted and everyone in the café stopped moving.

"I was privy to your show of power last night," the Judge reminded her, "Or did you really think the plane just randomly didn't crash? You were willing to risk a plane full of innocent lives just to take out Clara? That's vile."

The girl didn't seem perturbed by that, "And clear!" she ordered, all those who were frozen now getting up to leave the café.

The Judge glanced out at patio, it hadn't had that many people out there to begin with, so it didn't surprise her when the Doctor didn't notice the inside of the café clearing out.

"We can hack anyone in the Wi-Fi," a voice called from the side, drawing the Judge's attention over to a monitor on the wall where a news reporter was speaking nearly right to her, "Once they've been exposed long enough."

The Judge frowned, "How many of your base stations are here right now?" she asked the news reporter, stepping closer to the wall, "They have to be here, close."

"There's always someone close," the woman smirked, not answering the question exactly, "We've released thousands into the world. They home in on the Wi-Fi like rats sniffing cheese."

"The humans, while…lacking, are not rats to be tested on," the Judge shook her head, "At best, they're apes. So why don't you tell me who your Jane Goodall is that's keeping such a close eye on them?" she put her hands on her hips to keep from rubbing her legs and letting on just how nervous she was to be doing this alone.

"Ooh, Jane Goodall is quite a distance away from my client," the woman laughed, "My client doesn't just observe, he improves. He requires a steady diet of living human minds. Healthy, free range human minds. He loves and cares for humanity. In fact, he can't get enough of it."

"You are murdering human beings," the Judge argued, "Murder is murder, it is against not just human law but a vast amount of other alien laws. And you can rest assured, when we find you, you will stop and you and your client will be delivered to the proper authorities to deal with this matter. You had better hope that your client is not of a race where death is the penalty for murder."

"It's not murder, it's life," the woman scoffed, "The farmer tends his flock like a loving parent. The abattoir is not a contradiction. No one loves cattle more than Burger King."

"The humans are not cattle!" the Judge huffed, "And my husband is very fond of them. He will stop at nothing to end this. Your client must know that by now."

"And how is he going to do that?" she mocked, "You don't even know where we are."

"Give it time," the Judge threatened, opening her mouth to say more…

When she heard Clara screaming for her from outside.

~8~

The Doctor was sitting there, as silent as he'd ever been, having been forced to 'zip his lips' a short while ago by a rather fierce glare from Clara as she worked away at the computer.

He had to admit, he was…impressed. He actually wished that the Judge had stayed there to observe Clara in action, she would have had to be impressed with how focused Clara was and how she was actually managing to crack this case. She had set up a user account, Oswin, which had made him flinch as she thought it up. But she'd also managed to hack into the computers of the workers, not the computers exactly actually the webcams. She took pictures of the staff and had cross referenced them with facial recognition sites and social media. She'd found out the identities of the workers, found their statuses on other sites, and was just searching to see if they posted where they were working.

Though…he was quite sure that if the Judge had been there, she would have merely chocked this up to the programming that Clara had been gifted during the upload.

He looked up when Clara sat back heavily against her chair, staring at the laptop, "I did it," she breathed, "I really did, I did it!"

"You found them?" he started to smile as well.

She nodded, still a bit in shock, before she looked up at him, "I found them. The Shard. They're in the Shard. Floor 65."

"Floor 65," the Doctor spoke, his voice rather flat.

The Doctor, however, stiffened at that, because while that voice that spoke was his, HE hadn't been the one to say it. His lips hadn't moved.

"Clara…" the Doctor began, slowly straightening in his seat, reaching out to put a hand on hers to stop her from trying to type more.

"What?" Clara looked up. The Doctor just slowly turned his head, Clara following his gaze to see that there was another Doctor standing there, stiff, straight, not even breathing, just looking at them blankly, "What's not you…" she whispered, "You're right here…"

The Doctor slowly stood as the base stations head began to turn in a circle, Clara standing as well, recalling the last time she'd seen a 'person' do that. The Doctor reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her behind him and trying to flash the base station with the sonic just as a beam shot out from the head and struck him in the head.

"JUDGE!" Clara screamed and the Judge came running from the café just as the Doctor fell to the ground, the light receding into the base station which twitched and remained immobile, the last act of the sonic disabling it from attacking anyone again.

"Doctor!" the Judge gasped, rushing to his body and dropping to her knees, "Doctor? Doctor!" she moved him onto his back, touching his face, her eyes searching his but he remained unresponsive.

"_Carah?_" she heard a voice calling behind her in Gallifreyan, "_Carah, can you hear me?_" she slowly stood and turned, facing the base station, its head backwards, the Doctor's face visible in the curved portion, "_If you can hear me, you know what to do dear. You KNOW. You can work it out. Cos you're brilliant_," he smiled, "_And you don't like injustice any more than I do. So,_" he clapped his hands, not seeming at all frightened to have been uploaded instead of Clara, "_I'll see you soon._"

The Judge swallowed hard, tears in her eyes as he just smiled at her, but couldn't see her, his trust in her, his trust that she would be able to save HIM this time, both lightening her and burdening her with the thoughts of what if she failed? She took a breath and looked down at the Doctor on the ground, then back at the immobile base station, and back to the Doctor.

She quickly crouched down and grabbed the sonic, trying to set it, bashing it slightly on her hand. She hadn't really actually paid attention to what the sonic was or what it did. It was just a noisy wand, a toy that he seemed dependent on. She knew the basics of it, but she didn't know all that it could do. So she took another breath and aimed it at the base station, hoping that it would be able to let her do what she needed it to do.

…and hoping that Clara would be able to help her.

Well, that was just a testament to how desperate she was, she was going to ask a human for help.

Wonderful.

~8~

In a room of the Shard, three individuals stood before a wall that appeared to be nothing but monitors all stacked on top of each other, various faces and people on them calling out for help, how they didn't know where they were, pleading to be released.

There was a young Asian man, an older man, and an older woman in a pantsuit, with short gray hair and light eyes. They were standing there, focusing on the one face among the others that wasn't shouting or crying or begging…a man in a purple suit who merely tugged on his bowtie and sat back, crossing his arm and grinning at them.

"Should we pulp him?" the older man inquired, turning to the older woman for confirmation, clearly she was the one in charge, "Or keep him as a hostage?"

"There's no point," the woman smirked, "He's fully integrated, he can't be downloaded. I'm disappointed we didn't get the girl," she sighed, "But this one is proving far, FAR more brilliant than the others, isn't he Alexie?"

The young Asian man nodded, "His brainwaves are off the charts, Ms. Kizlet," turning away a moment later when he heard a beeping behind him coming from his computer.

Kizlet chuckled, "I believe our client will be most pleased with this turn of events."

"Um…ma'am," Alexie called, "The girl, the other one, the purple girl…she's coming."

"What?" Kizlet scoffed, as though that were ridiculous, turning only to see Alexie at his desk, typing frantically at the computer, following an image of the girl, the Judge she assumed, racing through London on the motorbike.

"We could stop her, I suppose," the older man stated, glancing at Kizlet.

She smirked though, "Why bother? It might be quite funny. She's clearly not as much a threat as bowtie back there," she smiled, "Let's see what she can do," she eyed the video feed, waiting till the Judge got closer to the Shard, stopping just before the building and pulling off her helmet, staring up at it before she got off, a messenger bag around her shoulder and headed for the building, "Let her in," she ordered, "Bring her to my office."

Alexie nodded, typing an order to the guards on the first floor as Kizlet turned and left, heading for her office to wait.

It was a fairly short wait however, a direct ride up from the lobby to the top floor and soon enough the girl, the Judge, was being escorted to her office, her associate, Mahler, leading her right to the room.

"Leave us," Kizlet called to the man, who hesitated only a moment before turning to step out of the room, leaving the two women alone, "Now…" she leaned forward, locking her fingers and resting her elbows on her desk, smirking at the Judge, "How can I help you?"

"Download the Doctor back into his body," the Judge stated.

"Hmm…" Kizlet hummed, contemplating it.

"Now," she gave Kizlet a hard look.

"Alas, I can't," Kizlet mock-sighed.

"Oh I think you can."

"Sadly, no. He's a fully integrated part of the data cloud now. He can't be separated."

"If he can't be separated from the cloud, then download the whole thing. ALL the others you have trapped there," she held up her hand to stop Kizlet speaking, "And don't lie to me, I saw the monitors, I know there are others."

"You realize what would happen?" Kizlet eyed her.

"The bodies that haven't died yet would have their minds back."

"And that would be a tiny number. Most would simply die."

"At least they would be free," the Judge glared at her, "Now give the order or…"

"Or what?" Kizlet challenged, slowly standing, the smirk still present on her face, "My client is well aware of you," she warned, "I doubt you have what it takes to stop him. So why would you even come here? You must know that you would fail."

"You're right," the Judge nodded, turning slightly to open the bag at her hip, "_I_ may not have what it takes to stop you, but the Doctor does."

"And he's not here," Kizlet laughed, "He's in the data cloud."

"ONE of his is," the Judge grinned.

Kizlet's smile fell as she saw what the Judge had pulled out of the bag…the base station's head, "No…" she stumbled back from her desk as the Judge lifted the metal head in one hand, the sonic in the other, "No. No! Not me! Not me!"

"Clara?" the Judge called as she flicked the sonic on, opening the connection between the base station and the laptop that Clara was using to operate it from back in the café, "Now!"

A moment later a beam of light shot out of the robotic head, striking Kizlet in the head, forcing her back even more. The Judge waited a moment longer, waited till Kizlet fell to the ground, till she could hear the woman shouting from the main room, above the voices of the others that had been taken, screaming for them to put her back in her body, to download her.

She knew that the men out there wouldn't do it, they were under her orders not to download anyone. So she hurried over to the woman's desk, looking along it till she found a tablet. She flicked the sonic on, dropping the base station head onto Kizlet's chair, and flashed it on the tablet, smiling and letting out a breath of relief when she saw that it was connected to the entire operation. She focused, concentrating, and grinned when she saw the image on the tablet of the monitors starting to blink off individually, the people returning to their bodies.

She tossed the tablet on the desk and strode out of the room, pulling her mobile out on the way as she headed for the lobby to lock down the building. All she had to do now was get in touch with Jack or UNIT and make sure that this building was taken care of.

~8~

The Doctor took a deep breath as he woke, blinking blearily as he looked up to find he'd fallen asleep on the ground to see Clara sitting at the table, the laptop in her arms, watching him with a small smile.

"Welcome to the land of the living," she quipped.

He groaned and flopped onto his back, "Don't do that," he shook his head, "Don't."

She gave him an apologetic smile, "Sorry."

He let out a long breath before he hopped up, "Come on," he turned and quickly made to stride out of the café.

"Where are we going?" Clara rushed after him.

"To the TARDIS," he stated, walking faster, "I do believe I'm late in picking up my wife."

Clara's smile was back at that, "Um…one problem," she told him as they reached the lift.

"What's that?"

"She took the motorbike."

"Ah."

~8~

"I'm sorry you know," the Judge remarked as she leaned against the console, looking at the Doctor as he sat on the stairs to the upper level, reading a book.

"For what?" he blinked, staring at her in confusion.

She opened her moth, trying to find the words to say what she was thinking, "That I wasn't there."

He smiled softly at that, "I'm glad you weren't," he closed the book, "If you'd been there, Carah, if you'd gotten uploaded or hurt or…"

"Not…not on the café," she cut in, "I'm sorry that I wasn't there, all the other times. All those times that you got hurt or were in danger and I wasn't there to help you."

"You had work to do at Torchwood," he shook his head gently, "You weren't ready or comfortable to travel with me, I understood that, I…"

"Not just then," she interrupted once more and he held up his hands at her tone of irritation at him continually thinking he understood what she was trying to say, letting her speak, "You asked me, a time or two, to come with you, on your travels."

He opened his mouth to speak but forced it closed. He'd only asked her 2 times, literally only 2. The first was when he'd just been about to go off on his own for the first real time, he'd asked her to come with him and she'd refused and he hadn't pushed. And then, again, once more…just before the war truly started, when all the warning signs were there, when they were just on the cusp of it. He'd asked her to come with him, to join him, to stay out of the war…he'd extended the same offer to his children as well, they'd said no. Gallifrey was their home, they felt a need to protect her. And he…he'd fled. He'd been a coward.

No…it hadn't just been that. He hadn't been able to let go of his title, the Doctor, meant to help and heal, not to fight and kill. He'd done so much bad in his time travelling, tried to balance it with good. But he hadn't been able to forget any instant where his efforts had gone wrong on his travels. He'd been sure that he'd join the war and it would all go wrong and he'd end up blowing up the planet just trying to help and…oh look, he very well had. He'd just…he couldn't bear it, a war, being in the middle of all that evil, he was running all the time to escape the evils he had already done in his past, to do more, on his own planet, to his own people…he couldn't do it. He was selfish, he knew, that he was less wary of getting involved with other cultures and peoples, whether it went wrong or not, but couldn't bring himself to truly stay on Gallifrey. The times he had, he'd mucked it up exponentially.

But he kept silent, because she wasn't finished.

"You asked me to go with you and I said no and you…regenerated, more than half a dozen times," she shook her head, "Look at you Theta," she blinked and he could see a few tears in her eyes, "Look at what incarnation you're on, how many times you've regenerated, and how many times was I actually there for you? None."

"Carah…"

She held up a hand, "I should have been. As your wife. I should have gone with you, been with you through all of that, but I said no and you got hurt over and over and I…" she swallowed hard, looking away, "I almost lost you, again. And I was able to save you this time and ALL I could think about was that…I should have been there. Maybe…maybe I would have been able to help you, save you then as well."

"You're not the only one guilty," he spoke after a moment, when he was sure she'd said what she'd needed to, "I should have been there too. Out of all the times YOU regenerated Carah, I was only actually THERE twice. I was only there to see it happen two times. Do you think you're the only one that feels like you betrayed the other to not have been there and protected you?" he shook his head, "Every time I saw you, every time I saw a new you, I…wanted to kill Jack for letting it happen. And I hated myself even more for not insisting you come with me each time. I should have been there for you Carah, as your husband, I should have stayed with you on Earth and protected you."

The Judge gave him a long look at that, the Doctor frowning when he saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes before it was gone as she looked away.

"We both have guilt Carah," he continued, "But all of that is in the past. Right now, we're together, and we can protect each other now. Save each other."

"And how am I going to save you now?" she asked him quietly, looking back at him, a solemn expression on her face as she eyed him, "How CAN I save you?"

He knew what she was thinking of, his current incarnation. When the Time Lords granted a second cycle, it was meant for ONLY the person they gifted it to. It could not be given to another Time Lord. So while she had a dozen regenerations to go, he was out. There was no way to save him from that end.

Thankfully he was saved from answering when there was a knock on the door and Clara slowly entered as they'd set the TARDIS down just outside the house they'd tracked Clara to.

"So," Clara smiled as she saw them, they'd sort of left her in the middle of the Shard's lobby just as UNIT was storming the building, "They come back, do they?"

"You didn't answer my question," the Doctor remarked, looking over at Clara, thinking about the brief conversation they'd had about her nannying after the Judge had gotten up to get drinks.

"What question?"

"You don't seem like a nanny."

"I was going to travel," Clara sighed, "I came to stay for a week before I left and during that week..."

"Mrs. Maitland passed on?" the Judge guessed, thinking about the 'Maitland' wi-fi connection that the Doctor had showed her, thinking about the pictures of the children and Clara and that woman in the family photos, "And you can't bring yourself to leave, not even to see those 101 places."

"I will do one day," Clara told them, "I'll see them."

"But you don't run out on the people you care about," the Doctor nodded, "Wish I was more like that," he frowned a moment as the Judge looked away at that, pushing off the console to move to the controls, absently working on them, "You know," he focused back on Clara, "The thing about a time machine, you can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea, so what do you say?" eh smiled, "Anywhere. All of time and space, right outside those doors."

"Does this work?" Clara laughed at that, "Eh? Is this actually what you do? Do you just crook your finger and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?"

The Judge looked up as the TARDIS gave a loud groan in protest at that, "Best not to call her a snog-box," she warned Clara, "She gets cross when the Doctor calls her names, you're just a human."

"So what do you say?" the Doctor smirked at Clara.

Clara considered it a moment, "Come back tomorrow, ask me again."

"Why?"

"Cos tomorrow, I might say yes," she teased, before turning to walk towards the doors, "Some time after 7 ok for you?"

"It's a time machine," the Judge reminded her.

"Any time's ok," the Doctor agreed.

"See you then," Clara waved over her shoulder.

"Clara, one question," the Judge called, making her pause, "Why do you have a leaf in your book?"

"That wasn't a leaf," she smiled, "That was page one," she gave them another wave before she disappeared out the doors, leaving them to ponder that.

"Right then," the Doctor clapped his hands, rubbing them together as he stood up, "Clara Oswald? Time to find out who she is, eh?" he smiled at the Judge and moved to the controls, pulling a lever and sending them off on their latest investigation.

A/N: I wonder what the Judge was disappointed with…hmm…we'll find out soon }:) I really wanted to write a moment where the Doctor was the one taken and just sort of have the Judge have a 'yay!' moment where she got to save him :)

Some notes on reviews...

I can't say when/if the Judge will regenerate or not, we'll have to wait and see :)

The Percy Jackson ones, by the time I get to them, would likely be based on the movies, all of them might be out by then lol :) But they would be altered to actually be true to the myths (I'm still SO angry that they messed up the major ones of Sea of Monsters) and have some references and tweaks to be more true to the books :)

The spinoffs should be continued this month and and the next, then altered to include 2 more in November and December :)


	15. The Rings of Akhaten - Part 1

The Rings of Akhaten - Part 1

The Doctor and the Judge stood quietly and solemnly a short distance behind a teenage Clara Oswald, in a cemetery, trying to be respectful as she and her father visited her mother's grave. They had been tracking Clara through her life, now that they knew who she was and the TARDIS had a lock on her. They'd gone back quite a few generations as well in an effort to try and find out what made THIS Oswald so special. They'd seen how her parents had met and fallen in love, how one windy day had changed it all when a leaf fell from a tree and landed on Mr. Oswald's eyes, sending him toppling into the road where the future Mrs. Oswald had pulled him out of the way of a car. They had seen them sharing milestones in their lives, their first date where Mr. Oswald had revealed that he'd kept that leaf that led him to the woman, their marriage, the birth of Clara. They'd seen the girl grow up, had run into her in a park once when the Doctor got beaned on the head with a small ball that Clara had kicked. They were there when Clara moved out, when she graduated college, all back and forth in her life, and they were here now, as the two Oswalds mourned the loss of their wife and mother.

The Judge frowned, looking at her mobile and back to Clara, to the grave for 'Ellie Oswald' who had died on the 5th of March, 2005. The same day that the shop dummies had come to life, the same time that the Doctor had met Rose Tyler. She sighed, closing her eyes at the text that Jack had sent her back, his confirming words blinking on the screen before she put the phone away.

"Everything alright with Torchwood?" the Doctor asked, glancing at her. She'd said she was texting Jack to make sure the team was alright after the wi-fi fiasco.

"Fine," she nodded, swallowing hard, "Bit peeved that UNIT got there first," she shrugged.

The Doctor smiled, giving a soft chuckle at that, and turned to lead her away, back towards the TARDIS. They headed up to the console, right to the monitor where all the information they'd gathered about the three different Claras, the one from the Alaska, the one from Victorian London, and the most recent one, were all gathered.

"She's just a girl," the Doctor mumbled, frowning as the images and information flickered past, "But how can she be?"

"I don't think she can be," the Judge remarked, "She doesn't make sense."

"She's not possible," the Doctor agreed, rubbing a hand down his face.

The Judge knew that she should have said something more, that she should agree more, offer him some sort of assurance that he'd work it out, that eventually the puzzle of Clara Oswald would be solved. But her mind was too preoccupied with the contents of Jack's text message. She was relieved that the Doctor hadn't caught her lie about the text.

Because the message had nothing to do with the wi-fi at all.

~8~

The two Time Lords were standing by the console, the TARDIS drifting through the vortex as Clara paced before them, half looking around the room still in awe, half excited at the prospect of where they were going and how they were getting there. The Judge very nearly smiled at the soft groan that the TARDIS gave, feeling like there was a hint of exasperation and irritation in it, like the box was aware of just how long Clara had been pacing and was complaining about the hole the girl would wear in her metal floor.

"So we're moving through actual time?" Clara spoke, spinning around to look at them, "So what's it made of? Time? If you can just rotor through it, it must be made of stuff, like jam's made of strawberries. So what's it made of?"

"Do you actually hear yourself when you speak?" the Judge had to ask, "And does it actually make sense to you?"

"Oi!" Clara pouted, "How am I to know? I've never been time travelling before."

The Doctor just chuckled, "Not strawberries. No. No, no, no. That would be unacceptable."

"And we can go anywhere?" Clara continued to question, following them as they turned to move to the controls.

"Most anywhere," the Judge sighed, "Some conditions apply."

"Some," the Doctor agreed, though he mouthed 'none' to Clara when the Judge turned to the side controls.

Clara giggled at that, even more when the Judge turned to give the Doctor a suspicious look, "So, we could go backwards in time?"

"Yes," the Judge nodded.

"And space," the Doctor added, "Can't forget space."

"And forwards in time…" Clara breathed.

"Yes," the Judge agreed, rolling her eyes, before blinking and turning to Clara, "You DO understand what a TIME machine is, don't you?"

Clara just rolled her eyes and waved the Judge's question off, the woman did have a point though. Everyone and their brother probably knew that time machines could go anywhere in time. Apparently though THIS time machine could also travel in space as well.

"So," the Doctor chuckled, "Where do you want to go, eh? What do you want to see?"

Clara grinned widely and opened her mouth to say the first thing in her head…only for her expression to completely fall moments later as she realized a very important fact, "I don't know," she breathed, frowning, "You know when someone asks you your favorite book and you forget every book you've read?"

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "Totally not."

"It's a thing with humans," the Judge shrugged, absently fiddling with a control, "They don't have our memory span."

"Oh," the Doctor nodded and focused on Clara, "So, back to the question?"

"Ok," Clara nodded, starting to pace as she thought deeply on what she'd been asked, trying to think of where, in all of time and space, she wanted to go, what she wanted to see out of ALL the possibilities out there, "So...so...so...so, I'd like to see...I would like to see...what I would like to see is..." she paused in her pacing, her back to them as she faced the doors, before she spun around to face them, a smile blooming on her face, "Something awesome."

"Be careful what you wish for Clara," the Judge mumbled as the Doctor grinned and clapped, rushing to the controls, "Awesome to you might mean utterly dangerous, daft, and deadly to that one," she pointed at the Doctor.

He pointed at her like he was going to argue, but shrugged and nodded, getting back to piloting, but making sure that this 'awesome' trip was going to be none of the three the Judge had listed. He was sure of it. It wouldn't be…

Hopefully wouldn't be…

Might actually be…

Probably would be, if he were being honest.

Good thing there was always Rule 1!

~8~

The Judge slowly opened the doors for the Doctor who had a hand over Clara's eyes despite Clara having promised that she'd keep them closed, his other hand on Clara's arm as he led her out of the TARDIS. She paused a moment, looking out at the sight beyond as she closed the door behind her. It was a lovely sight. A large sun blazed in the distance, with a massive amount of asteroids and other rocks floating around it, caught in its gravitational pull. There were a few cities, or what appeared to be cities, resting on the backs of some of the larger rocks. She just barely caught sight of a glistening pyramid on another smaller rock before a large one drifted in front of it.

She felt the small smile that had grown on her face at the beauty of it all start to fall when she realized where they were. Akhaten. She wasn't sure exactly how she felt about being there, but, judging from how she'd subconsciously started to rub her legs, she could tell she wasn't entirely pleased by this trip. And she knew that it was the Doctor's choice, this trip, the TARDIS hadn't been set to mystery tour, he had PICKED to come here. She knew, in his mind, he was probably just trying to share something with both her and Clara, but what he was sharing wasn't something she was very fond of remembering.

Oh, she loved her granddaughter, infinitely so…but there were bad memories associated with it that she just…didn't want to have to be reminded of.

"Can you feel the light on your eyelids?" the Judge looked up, hearing the Doctor speaking.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes to gather her thoughts, before she stepped away from the door and to Clara's other side, helping to guide her along with the Doctor, "It's not Earth's sun," the Judge told her.

"What really?" Clara gasped, even though she knew that the TARDIS could travel in space and time, the idea that right now, at that very moment, she was actually somewhere in space and staring at an entirely new sun was remarkable.

"I wouldn't have said it if it weren't," the Judge muttered.

"Forward a couple of steps," the Doctor nudged her on a little more, "Ok, are you ready?"

Clara nodded frantically, "Yes," before frowning, sounding less sure of herself and her excitement, "No. Yes?"

"Was that a question?" the Judge chuckled slightly at that, "Clara just open your eyes," she told her, reaching out to lower the Doctor's hand from Clara's face.

"Welcome to the Rings of Akhaten," the Doctor beamed as they looked out at the sight of the asteroids and rocks and cities and sun.

Clara's eyes widened in sheer awe at the wonderful view, knowing this was something few, if any, humans had ever, or would ever, see, and that SHE was privy to it, "It's..."

The Doctor nodded, laughing slightly, "It is. It so completely is."

"And that's not even the best part," the Judge murmured.

"How can it not be?" Clara shook her head.

"Look, there…" the Judge pointed, "Right…about…now."

Just as she finished speaking the large chunk of rock that had drifted in front of the pyramid passed it, revealing the structure in all its shining glory.

"What is it?" Clara breathed, just staring at the pyramid in curiosity.

"The Pyramid of the Rings of Akhaten," the Doctor explained, "It's a holy site for the Sun-singers of Akhet."

"The who of what?"

"Sun-singers," the Judge repeated, "Of Akhet."

"Akmet?"

"AkHet. Honestly, it's not like it's Raxacoricofallapatorious."

"Raxa-what?" Clara glanced at her.

The Doctor chuckled and made his way between the two women, putting his arms around the both of them, his hand on their shoulders, knowing that he should probably put a bit of space between the Judge and Clara. Clara's questions, however awed they sounded to him, would start to come across as a bit dim to the Judge. He knew that she knew that humans, when shocked, could hardly process the things they learned, but he knew that she had a little less patience with humans than others.

It was odd, three children, Time Lord children (and him), and she lacked patience with humans. Being a Time Lord, she should probably have a little more patience than she did, but he understood. Or he tried to. He knew many of their people didn't quite see in humans what he did, but sometimes he got the feeling there was something else about the humans that was bothering her. Still, he just had to hope that, one day, he could help her see what he did in them.

"Seven worlds orbiting the same star," the Doctor continued, "All of them sharing a belief that life in the universe originated here. On that planet."

"All life?" Clara's eyes widened at that and the Doctor could already see her mind whirling, trying to imagine if that were actually true.

"In the universe."

"Did it?"

"Everyone on every planet has a different idea of when and where and how the universe began," the Judge shook her head, "It's like how you humans thought that the sun revolved around you…"

"Around EARTH," Clara cut in, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"But then found out that it was the opposite," the Judge kept on, hardly even pausing at Clara speaking over her, "There are hardly any species out there that know, for a fact, how and where the Universe began."

"And let me guess, the Time Lords do?" Clara crossed her arms.

"We DO have a time machine," the Judge reminded her, "We have recordings of how the Universe began."

It should have been a school trip for them, many would have liked to be able to actually BE there and see it happen, but over the centuries and millennia it would have ended up being crammed full of Time Lords travelling to that exact moment to see what happened. So they'd only sent a handful one time to record it happening for the students to see.

Clara shook her head and glanced back at the rocks, at one of the cities on the rocks, "Can we see it? Up close?"

The Doctor smiled and looked at the Judge, "What do you say dear?"

The Judge looked at the city once more, before taking a breath and giving him a smile of her own. If he noticed the small size of it, then he said nothing as he hurried them both back to the TARDIS.

~8~

The Judge smiled slightly as she helped the Doctor set the TARDIS down behind a few stalls of the market of Akhaten. He'd wanted to make a big entrance, for Clara, to set down right in the middle of some sort of amphitheater, but she'd convinced (reminded) him that he should really work on his plans to stick to the shadows. He'd already made others aware that he was still alive, the last thing they needed was for the Sun-singers to start singing about a blue box in their hymns as well. She knew there were already some references to the magic blue box in some religions, even on Earth there was a church in Chiswick that had a stained glass image of the TARDIS.

The Doctor hardly waited till the box had been parked and tied down before hurrying for the doors. The Judge was sure that she would have been offended by his rudeness had it not been for centuries of him doing the same when he was excited. He tended to forget others were there and rush right out there. Their children never complained when he did something like that, his own excitement making theirs tenfold. She never complained either because seeing the smiles on his face and the children's was worth it. It was just one of his quirks.

She made sure to shut the door behind her as she followed Clara out of the TARDIS after the Doctor, smiling slightly when she saw the vendors and stalls and wares all around them. The massive amount of aliens was a nice change as well to constantly being around humans. It was a welcome change. She knew that Time Lords and humans looked alike, but she FELT like an alien around them. They were really just starting to discover themselves and technology and to be around them just reminded her that she wasn't around her own people. It reminded her that she couldn't be around them, because they were gone.

She had…issues with humans, she knew that, she knew she had to work on that, especially because the Doctor was so fond of them and there was a very real chance that they'd end up being a constant presence in his travels to the end of eternity and back. But for the moment, she couldn't help but feel out of place around them and that was only ONE of the reasons she wasn't fond of them.

It was hard to be around them, to be around so many of them. To see them so prosperous and growing, and to know her own people were lost, to know that she and the Doctor were all that was left. It reminded her of what she'd lost, especially seeing families walking about. Being around them, having to constantly explain things to them that any Time Lord would have known just reminded her that the humans, for all that they looked like Time Lords, WEREN'T Time Lords. At times, if they were quiet enough, she could almost trick herself into thinking that it was merely a Time Lord that was blocking their telepathic nature from her. She couldn't see their heart, their lack of a second one, she could try and think they were just blocking themselves. But then they opened their mouths and she was reminded they were not, at all, Time Lords.

And it just made her feel let down, alone, even with the Doctor there, even the Doctor, at times, was a reminder that they were the only ones left.

And it hurt.

"Where are they from?" Clara asked them, having wandered slightly ahead and turning back to the two of them.

"Oh, you know, the local system mostly," the Doctor shrugged.

"What do I call them?"

"There's really too many to name…" the Judge began.

But the Doctor was all too willing to list and point out every single one, "There go some Panbabylonians," he began to point, half spinning around to be able to aim at others, not seeing the Judge shaking her head at how confused Clara was and how she barely had a chance to look at one alien before he was pointing to another, "A Lugal-Irra-Kush. Some Lucanians. A Hooloovoo. Ah! Qom VoTivig!" he hurried over to one, giving it a sort of secret handshake, before he returned right to what he was doing, "That chap's a Terraberserker of the Kodion Belt. You don't see many of them around anymore. Oh! That's an Ultramancer. You know," he smiled and moved over to the Judge, putting his arm around her, "I forget how much I like it here, we should come here more often."

"We should have come here together," she mused, glancing at him and adding quickly when she saw his happy expression starting to fall, "With the children, it would have been fun for them, I think."

He smiled again, "It would have, very much so."

"So…you've been here before?" Clara looked more at the Doctor for that.

"Yes, I came here a long time ago with our granddaughter," he nodded, turning to head off with the Judge. He glanced at her, his smile falling once more when he saw her cross her arms and look away, her expression sad, "You ok?"

She looked up at him, "Yeah," she nodded, "Just…hungry?" she offered, not really wanting to talk about it right now, not with Clara rushing after them. This was something meant to be talked of in privacy.

"Ah, I can take care of that," he grinned, moving over to a booth and flashing the psychic paper at the vendor, turning around with three bowls of what looked like a glowing blue mush. He handed it to her to hold as he pulled out the sonic to scan it, "Exotic fruit of some description. Non-toxic. Non-hallucinogenic. High in free radicals. And low in other stuff, I shouldn't wonder," he took one from the tray and then took the tray to hold out the other two bowls to Clara, who had caught up to them, as well as the Judge. He took a large bite of it, grinning, though Clara grimaced at the taste, the Judge's expression not much better, "No?"

"We don't have your extensive palate dear," the Judge remarked, she could only imagine all the different foods he'd had to eat from different planets over the centuries. She was still trying to adapt to human food and she'd eaten it nearly every day for years while working with Torchwood.

"So, why's everyone here?" Clara looked around, setting her bowl back on the tray.

"Clara…" the Judge gave her a look and pointed behind her.

Clara blinked and turned to look over her shoulder, seeing a banner in the distance, at the end of the small lane, and squinted, "Festival of Offerings," she read off it, "Oh," she nodded, before she looked back at the Time Lords, sheepish, "But what IS that?"

"It's a celebration that takes place every thousand years or so," the Doctor shrugged, "When the rings align. It's quite a big thing, locally. Like Pancake Tuesday."

"Bit more important than that," the Judge remarked.

The Doctor looked at her, sensing something more than just that in her words, "You know about it?" it wasn't something he could recall being taught about the festival on Gallifrey.

"Susan told me," she gave him a look.

He blinked at that, his eyes widening at the implication. He and Susan had gone to the last Festival of Offerings a short while before he'd…before he'd left her on Earth. There was no way that she could have known that, that Susan could have told her, between then and their last adventure on Earth, "How…" he began, only for Clara shouting for them to cut him off.

They spun around to see that she was stumbling back from a rather large alien with a face like a dog barking and snarling at her.

"Um…help?" she called and the Doctor hurried to her, barking right back to the alien, "What's happening? Why's it angry?"

"That sounds angry to you?" the Judge inquired of Clara, "She's actually just saying hello."

"She?"

"Yes, Dor'een, meet Clara," the Doctor introduced, "Clara, meet Dor'een."

"Doreen?"

"Dor'EEN," the Judge corrected her pronunciation, "Best be polite and get it right," she added, earning a small huff from Clara for that.

"Loose translation," the Doctor waved it off, "She sounds a bit grumpy but she's a total love, actually, aren't you?" he started to laugh as he tickled the alien under the chin as he would have if she were a real dog, "Yes, you are."

"She wants to know if we'd like to rent a space-moped," the Judge told Clara, seeing the Doctor getting a bit lost in petting the dog-alien, he always had been a dog-person.

"For how much?" Clara frowned, looking at the moped as Dor'een stepped back to allow them to see it. It looked like a moped, of sorts, without wheels, but if it was a space one it probably hovered or something.

"Not money," the Doctor explained, "Something valuable. Sentimental value. A photograph, love letter, something like that."

"It's their version of currency," the Judge added, "They implement the use of psychometry here, accepting objects that have a history to it, a sentimental value to it, instead of coin."

"The more treasured they are, the more value they hold."

"That's horrible!" Clara gaped at that, at the idea of having to give up something you love for something so…material.

"Better than using bits of paper."

"Then you pay," Clara countered.

"With what?"

"You're both like a thousand years old," she reasoned, "You must have something you care about."

"I think a better question would be if we actually need to rent a moped," the Judge cut in, "There's no point in worrying about who will pay and with what if we're not even going to use or rent a moped."

The Doctor and Clara looked at each other at that and shrugged, it was a good point. Clara turned to look around while the Doctor glanced t her and then to the Judge, tugging her off to the side, giving Clara time to examine the wears. He knew he shouldn't be doing this now, not while they were surrounded by other aliens, he knew the Judge would want to wait, but…he just had to talk to her. Her mentioning Susan had gotten to him and he really…he DID need to talk about this sooner than later. Their children and their family was always important to him and he needed to know.

"You spoke to Susan?" he asked her quietly.

The Judge let out a long breath at that, knowing that he'd do this the second he heard her mention Susan, "Yes."

"When?" he shook his head, "There wasn't time and…"

"After you left her on Earth," she told him.

"But she didn't…there wasn't…" he blinked rapidly, "How?" there shouldn't have been a way to contact Gallifrey from earth.

"Our granddaughter is as clever as her grandfather," she gave him a small smile, "She managed to make a crude communications device. Was able to call me on Gallifrey."

He eyed her a long while, seeing tears forming in her eyes, "What did she say?" he knew it couldn't be good.

She swallowed, "She wanted me to come to Earth, to see her."

"Why?" his mind started to race now, "Did she want to come home? Was she unhappy?"

He'd left her there because she'd fallen in love and he'd just wanted to give her her best chance to have a life, to experience that emotion, to live a happy life…had he misread the situation? He always promised that he would check in on her, but as time went on and as he took on companion after companion and saw how much he'd shattered their lives and hurt them, he just…couldn't. He'd convinced himself, over the years, that Susan was better off without his interference.

"She wanted a TARDIS," she told him.

"She…wanted to travel?" his eyes widened with hope, he couldn't, for the life of him, recall ever hearing a report of Susan during the war, of her being injured or falling or taking part in it and if she had a TARDIS then… "She might still be out there!"

"No," the Judge shook her head, "She's not."

"But you said…"

"She wanted me to bring a TARDIS," she took his hand, squeezing it, "Because she wanted me to use the Chameleon Arch on her."

The Doctor stared at her as his hearts broke, "…what?"

"She wanted to be human," she explained, "She wanted to live a human life with her human love. She begged me to Theta," she told him quietly, "I…I brought Tyrin with me," he let out a breath at the name of their son, their eldest son, Susan's father, well not 'Susan' that was just a name, like a title, that she'd picked when they'd gotten a bit stuck on Earth to help her blend in and just decided to go with it for their travels, "He said goodbye," she whispered, "I gave her the fob watch, I didn't take all her memories, I made sure that she knew, if she opened the watch, she'd be a Time Lady again."

The Doctor looked down, "She never opened it. Did she?"

The Judge shook her head, "She…died, as a human. She didn't have any children, it was just her and the human."

The Doctor blinked quickly, trying to keep his tears at bay. He didn't know what he expected. What, did he think that she'd somehow still be alive after all this time? Did he think he'd just pop back in five minutes after he left her but nearly at the end of his regenerations and dash off with her? Did he think she'd find a way back to Gallifrey or to travel? She'd have contacted him. No, he knew why he'd done it, he hadn't wanted to look into what happened to Susan, because if he did, then he'd KNOW what happened. Right now he could live in hope, he could try to think that she was fine, exactly where she was. And, in a way, she was, she was alive and living a happy life with her human right now, but…now he knew she'd died as a human. She had had that happy life he wanted her to have, had loved that man so much she became human for him, and that was a love worth fighting for. But now…his hopes that he'd see her again, they were gone. His unknown for his granddaughter was now known…and there was nothing he could do to change it.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he murmured.

"She didn't exactly get the timing right," she sighed, "I got the message from her on the cusp of the war. I think Tyrin wanted her to be human, to keep her away from the war, to let her live her entire life out. We went and we made her human. The war happened and I barely saw you since then. Not till now. And you never asked."

He swallowed as well and nodded at that, it was true. He'd never asked and she hadn't known till just before she stopped seeing him at all.

"Was she happy?" he looked at her, needing to know.

She nodded, "Very," she smiled, "She was, very much so. And right now," she squeezed his hand, "Right now, she's living her life with her human, and she IS happy."

But they couldn't ever see her. The Doctor had already been in that time period, had already interfered, the Judge had appeared after that, and now their granddaughter was human. Even if they could go there, they just…if they did, she'd be in danger again. Danger seemed to follow the Doctor and the Judge knew that was another reason he hadn't gone back for Susan, to spare her the danger that came with him and followed him. They both wanted to protect her, and if that meant staying away…they would.

The Judge took a breath and looked around, "We should…"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, knowing that it was a very sensitive and sorrowful topic for both of them, and they'd probably left Clara alone for longer than they should have, "Clara!" he called, turning around to gesture her over to them, so they could head to the festival, only to slump when he saw that Clara was nowhere to be seen.

Yes, they'd left her alone for longer than they should have…she'd wandered off.

~8~

The Judge sighed as she spotted Clara standing before the TARDIS…till she noticed a small figure in a red robe beside her, both their backs to her, and quickly approached. She'd been searching for the girl for a short while now, she and the Doctor splitting up to try and find her after she'd wandered off, and now, while she was relieved that she'd found Clara, she was a little irritated with what was happening before her.

"…space-shippy thing," Clara was saying to the other figure, "Timey, spacey."

"It's teeny!" the figure, a young girl judging on her voice, cried.

"You wait!" Clara laughed and started to pull the doors open, but they wouldn't budge, "Oh, come on."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know," Clara sighed, stepping back.

"Well, for one, you ARE trying to PULL open doors when they clearly don't open that direction," the Judge spoke, making the two girls jump and spin to face her.

Clara gave her a sheepish look before turning and trying to push the doors open, but it still didn't budge.

"The doors also automatically lock once they are shut," the Judge added.

"Oh good," Clara murmured, nodding as she turned back to the Judge, "I thought the box didn't like me."

"Oh she doesn't," the Judge was quick to 'reassure' Clara of that, stepping past her to touch the corner of the box, she might not have as deep a psychic link to the box as the Doctor did, but she COULD gather that at least, "She sees you as a threat."

"A threat?" Clara frowned, "Why am I a threat? When've I done anything threaty?"

The Judge just shook her head, it wasn't the time or place for that sort of discussion with that little girl beside them, "Well, you DID try to bring someone into the TARDIS without the authorization of the pilots," she remarked.

Clara blinked at that, her eyes widening after a moment as she realized what she'd nearly done. The TARDIS wasn't her ship, and while she was sure that the Doctor would have no issue using it to help a child, it wasn't HER call to make. She had just been invited on a trip and she was a guest, she had no right to just bring people into the box when, she assumed, it was meant to be a secret of sorts. Why else would it be hidden behind the stalls? But, then again, why else would the Doctor have set it down in plain daylight, in full view, on the bank of the Thames? Time Lords were confusing.

She turned to apologize to the Judge, when she noticed that the little girl had disappeared, "Hey," she frowned, trying to find her, "Hey, little girl!"

"My name's Merry," a voice called and they both looked over to see the girl was peeking out from behind the TARDIS before she ducked back down on the other side of it. The two women exchanged a look and moved around one side of the TARDIS to follow the girl, finding her sitting curled up between the TARDIS and a wall.

"So what's happening?" Clara asked, dropping down to sit beside the girl, the Judge remaining standing, "Is someone trying to hurt you?"

"No," Merry sighed, "I'm just scared."

"Scared?" the Judge frowned.

"Of getting it wrong."

Clara looked at the Judge and back to Merry, shaking her head, "Ok, can you pretend like I'm totally a space alien and explain?"

"I'm Merry Gejelh."

"Really not local. Sorry."

"Clara," the Judge sighed, handing her a small pamphlet, one that she'd seen around the market, and letting her read it.

Clara frowned but took it, opening it and reading it quickly, something about a Queen of Years, Merry Gejelh, and a festival where she would be singing some sort of ceremonial song.

"You're the…Queen of Years?" Clara read off it, "And that means…"

"They chose me when I was a baby," Merry remarked, "The day the last Queen of Years died. I'm the vessel of our history. I know every chronicle. Every poem. Every legend. Every song."

Clara's eyes widened at that, "Every single one? Blimey. I hated history."

"Probably because of human memory," the Judge stated, "Your memories aren't exactly…"

"What?" Clara narrowed her eyes at that.

"Nothing," the Judge held back, all too aware she was being more than a bit harsh about humans to Clara. In fact, she was quite sure she was being harsh with Clara as well. She hadn't been before, not when the wi-fi was an issue, she'd been easier with the woman, less commenting, even the tiniest, tiniest bit impressed with her…

And now? It was almost like every remark to Clara was coming out like an insult or some sort of snide remark. She didn't want to act like that, not so often. It was one thing to make a comment on humans in the middle of a situation, but it was quite another to do so non-stop and to the same person. She didn't want to make Clara feel uncomfortable, she knew that it would upset the Doctor if she drove Clara off. But there was just…this whole mess with Clara and who she was and what she was and that text from Jack it was making it all a bit difficult for her to deal with and process.

"I have to sing a song in front of everyone," Merry explained to Clara, "A special song. I have to sing it to a god. And I'm really scared."

"Everyone's scared when they're little," Clara tried to reassure the girl.

"Everyone gets scared in general," the Judge did agree there, "I've been scared before, the Doctor has, Clara too, yes?"

Clara nodded, seeing that the Judge was trying to show Merry that it wasn't just little kids that were scared but grownups as well, "I used to be terrified of getting lost. Used to have nightmares about it. And then I got lost. Blackpool beach, Bank Holiday Monday. About ten billion people. I was about six. My worst nightmare come true."

"What happened?" Merry frowned.

"The world ended…"

"Well I hardly think that the world ended," the Judge shook her head, "If anything it…"

But Clara just held up a finger and tutted her for interrupting about something she meant to be taken in a non-literal sense, "My heart broke. And then my mum found me. We had fish and chips and she drove me home and she tucked me up and she told me a story."

"And you were never scared again?" Merry eyed her.

"Oh, I was scared lots of times, like the Judge said, we all get scared. But never of being lost."

"Are you worried about doing the song wrong?" the Judge inquired, "Is it a difficult song?"

"Yes…and no," Merry sighed, "I AM worried about doing it wrong, because it'll make Grandfather angry. And I'm scared because it's not a difficult song so if I get it wrong, it's even worse."

"Well," the Judge crouched down, "That's IF you get it wrong, isn't it? And you won't know until you sing it, will you?"

"I don't think you'll get it wrong," Clara offered.

"You don't?" Merry looked at her.

Clara smiled, "No, you're the Queen of Years aren't you?" she nudge Merry, "You KNOW the songs, you know all of them. And if you can remember all of them, then I think you'll know this one too."

"We both think you'll do just fine Merry," the Judge told her.

"Yes," Clara nodded, "You, Merry Gejelh, will get it very, very right."

Merry looked between them, seeing in their eyes that they did believe in her, that they did think she could do it, and started to smile, leaning in to give them both a tight hug in thanks.

"Now," the Judge pulled away, "We need to get you to the festival."

"Right," Clara agreed, standing, "There were two monk-men looking for you before."

Merry sighed but nodded, stepping out from around the side of the TARDIS, the two women following her into the middle of the market, where they could see the two monks were standing, still looking for her. She glanced up at Clara and the Judge and took a breath, stepping away from them and over to the men who appeared very relieved to have found her, bestowing a flower necklace around her neck and leading her off.

"There you are!" the Doctor's voice spoke behind them, startling Clara and making her jump as she and the Judge turned to see him eating more of the blue fruit, "What have you been doing?" he looked more at Clara.

"Exploring," she shrugged.

"Wandering off," the Judge countered.

"Is that a bad thing?" Clara eyed them, frowning, sensing something more about that.

"Yes," the Judge said, at the same time as the Doctor said, "No."

"Oi," the Judge nudged him, "YOUR most important rule is 'Don't wander off.'"

"Yes, but it's conditional," the Doctor slurped more of the blue mush, turning to start his own wander off, the Judge beside him.

Clara eyed them a moment, listening to them bickering about what sort of conditions applied to wandering before she shook her head and hurried after them, curious to see where they were going now.

~8~

The small trio had just made it to the amphitheater right on time, it appeared, as they skid to a halt through the entrance ways to see that Merry had only stepped onto a small performance pedestal at the edge of an open area that faced the pyramid and sun when they arrived. The audience was already there, the room filled with aliens, all gathered to see the celebration, to hear the song that Merry would sing to Grandfather. The Doctor looked up at the seats, spotting three open ones, two on one bench and another spot open on the bench just before it. He took the Judge's hand and started to lead her up towards it, Clara following close behind, actually trying to be quiet this time and not be noticed, knowing how important this ceremony was.

"Sorry," he whispered to various aliens as he passed by them and made his way to the seats, "Sorry, excuse me. Sorry. Excuse us," he turned and quickly sat, the Judge beside him, gesturing for Clara to take the spot before them, the girl apologizing just as much for jostling the aliens till she could sit as well.

Clara turned in her seat to face them, quietly asking, "Are we even supposed to be here?"

"Psychic paper," the Judge told her as the Doctor subtly slipped it back into his pocket with a wink sent to Clara, "Makes people see what you want it to. So yes, we are, somewhat, supposed to be here."

Clara nodded and turned back to the front, watching as Merry nervously glanced back at the people, catching sight of her and biting her lip in fear of mucking it all up. She gave the girl a reassuring smile and a nod, her smile growing as Merry took a breath and turned back, starting to sing a lovely song to the God of Akhaten.

So far, so good it appeared.

"They're singing to the Akhaten in the Temple," the Doctor's voice spoke right in Clara's ear, making her jump, not having expected him to lean forward to whisper to her in the middle of the performance, "They call it the Old God. Sometimes Grandfather."

"What are they singing?" Clara leaned back slightly to continue the conversation, being sure not to disturb the other aliens that were listening to Merry's lovely singing.

"You didn't bother to read the pamphlet did you?" the Judge sighed, plucking the copy the Doctor was holding from his hand and leaning forward on Clara's other side to show her what the pamphlet said, "It's called 'The Long Song.' Essentially it's just a lullaby."

"A LONG one," the Doctor agreed, "One without end. To feed the old god, keep him asleep. It's been going for millions of years. Chorister handing over to Chorister. Generation after generation after generation…"

"And what are they doing?" Clara glanced around, seeing the people shifting to hold something up in their hands, small objects.

"Making an offer to the Old God," the Judge spoke, "Like with the moped, it's something that holds value to them. Instead of money, this time the offerings are like food."

Clara watched intently as the 'offerings' began to turn into small flecks of golden light, drifting up into the air, swirling together and heading for the sun, like a sky full of stars or fireflies. Only moments later, once the golden light had disappeared, the audience began to sing along with Merry, joining their voices with hers in a beautiful melody. Clara giggled when the Doctor attempted to join in, but ended up being slightly early.

"Never did have the best timing," the Judge smiled at him, leaning closer after a moment's hesitation, winding her arm through his and leaning more, the two of them silent, just enjoying the others singing along with Merry instead.

"Oh, god of..." Merry hit a chorus, "Oh, god of...oh, god of...oh, god of Akhaten…"

The Time Lords stiffened on that last note, hearing some sort of falter in it, seeing Merry tensing as though sensing something had gone wrong. And then, right before their very eyes, before anyone could even blink or even move, a beam of light shot out from the pyramid and grasped Merry in its hold, lifting her off the pedestal…and dragging her out towards the pyramid, into the darkness of space.

A/N: I'm SO sorry for the delay. It's been...a mess of a mess of a mess of a week :( I've had everything happen from cancer-scares in a younger relative of mine, to needing to be tested for diabetes/hypoglycemia, spending about 6 hours straight fearing for my brother's life (a man with a knife and a suspicious backpack was walking up and down the tunnel he works in and his booth doesn't lock nor can it be barricaded), then 9/11 and the sorrow and tension that comes with that (my heart goes out to all those who lost a loved one), and, as always seems to happen when I think I've put it behind me...the most recurring plagiarizer pops up again :(

I'd gotten a photo submission on my tumblr of a PM between a reader and Phantom's Ange (now Wolfe's Girl), and she was not only denying the LotR plagiarism I only learned about long after I'd given her a second chance when she plagiarized a DW story of mine, but also lied flat out to my reader about our own situation with her plagiarizing me. In the message she claimed that the reason she copied my work was because she didn't have the transcripts. In a message she sent to me BEFORE this, claiming to be before she started writing her DW story, she asked to copy me and when I refused I GAVE her the transcript sites. I had been operating, at first, under the belief that it was a genuine accident...and now I see this and it made me feel like ALL ALONG she had planned to plagiarise me. I gave her the transcripts, she had them, and she still copied me :'(

It just brought up a lot of bad feelings and made me feel like an idiot that I'd believed her, that I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Along with that, I was also informed that the author had been going through all the evidence I had about them and trying to erase it to continue to cover up what they'd done to me (in the process proving my point in them being the same person that plagiarized a LotR story). Dealing with this author has been going on since the start of 2013 and each time I feel like it's behind me, she does or says something that brings it all up again. And it's my entire fault that she hasn't been properly dealt with by the site because I had tried to be nice :(

And then my sister's work didn't give her off like she was supposed to and I was forced to go to my brother's last race this weekend :( Despite apparently winning 'Rookie of the Year' (he was like the only Rookie) he also half-totaled his car and my parents and I spent nearly the entire day with him trying to take off the destroyed pieces and prepare the car for repairs and secure everything for the 'off-season' and blah :( But at least that's over with for now :) I was also able to get quite a bit done for editing though on the ride there and back so I might just be able to get back to officially updating at the right times ;)

As for this chapter, I can say we WILL find out what the text from Jack was and why the Judge lied about it in a later chapter, but for now I'll leave you to wonder what it was }:) We'll also find out, little by little, why the Judge has some issues with humans. I can say that there'll be quite a difference between how she acts around Clara NOW as opposed to in TBOSJ }:)

One slightly-bad thing that will happen as a result of the delays is that OUAT, which was supposed to be resumed yesterday, might be pushed off till next week :( I can't say when at the moment, I have to work that out, but I can't see it being picked up this week :( (sorry!)

Some notes on reviews...

It will definitely come up later about the physical aspect of their relationship, however it hasn't been 300 years in this story ;) They've known the other is alive, or the Doctor has, for 300 years, but the Judge was with Torchwood on Earth and the Doctor was out travelling the stars. I mentioned it briefly earlier in the story that the Asylum happened after the extra 97 years between when he was 1103 in Utah and 1200 in Mercy, so the Doctor's been out and about for about 300 years since finding the Judge again, but the Judge has only been travelling with the Doctor recently, likely only months so far ;)

I don't plan to do the PJO story for a while so there's always a chance they might resume the movies :) If not, I'd probably try to use the books to complete it. I mostly tend to use movie-versions of books as it's easier to get the transcript than copy the books. But by then, I might have time to get that all together and have a backup worked out for if they stop the movies where they are :) I'd probably end up altering a lot of the movie portions anyway to make it closer to the books though :)

Yup, all my DW stories will be updated for Series 8 after it finishes airing. I'll be going in order for Proffy, then Evy, then Angel, then Mac, then the Judge, and then TL5 ;) I will be updating Dragon's Fire too yup ;)

Lol, I'm not dead yet ;) Though, if it's ok, could I ask that you not leave messages as though I've died? It sort of freaks me out and I don't want to be jinxed lol. In the last 4 years, it's been like at least 2 members of my family die each year and I've already had a few health issues this year and just about each month I end up so physically illness that I have passed out before so it kinda freaks me out to see someone telling me to Rest in Peace, you know? :) I will not ever give up on my stories. This year has just been very difficult with changes in work and school and health issues coming up and overestimating what I can and can't handle in terms of writing and editing but I will never stop writing ;) IF, in the very slim chance, that I ever did have to stop writing, I'd definitely be sure to post a note of an apology for it and let you all know.

I will be doing Series 8 for my stories yup :) I tend to wait till the show has finished airing before posting the stories though, that way I don't write myself into a hole by having something happen in an early episode that ends up being impossible to have happened due to a later episode, but it WILL be coming ;) The day after episode 12 airs the Professor's story will be picked up for Series 8 and go from there ;)


	16. The Rings of Akhaten - Part 2

The Rings of Akhaten - Part 2

"Ok…what's happening?" Clara looked around, trying to gauge if this was part of the show or not, "Is this supposed to happen?" she opened the pamphlet that the Judge had given her, skimming it, trying to see if this was right. But Merry's shouts for 'Help!' quickly took care of that question, "Is somebody going to do something? Excuse me? Is somebody going to help her?"

The Doctor and Judge were off their seats and running down past the other aliens before Clara could even blink, leaving her little option but to chase after them.

The Judge was biting the inside of her cheek as she raced after the Doctor, her mind spinning with questions about what was happening, why it was happening, and why Merry? Guilt settled in her stomach as she thought on the young girl, the girl who had been so frightened to perform but that SHE had helped encourage with Clara. Merry reminded her so much of her daughter in that moment, the small performances and recitations that the children of Gallifrey were expected to perform at times. Her daughter, that girl was so shy at one time in her life, always afraid of messing something up when in front of others. She had been such a daddy's girl, still was, right to the end of her life. She wanted to make the Doctor proud, show that she could recite stories and poems just like he could, despite him having centuries of time to memorize them while she'd only had years at most.

The Doctor was always so proud of her no matter what, whether she flubbed a line or not, whether she end up making up her own verses, he loved it. But that didn't stop the girl from being nervous, just like Merry. She had never been able to help reassure her, not like the Doctor had, not till her children had been older. It had…for that one moment, where Merry seemed confident, seemed reassured, she'd thought that, perhaps, she'd finally managed to do so. She'd been happy that she'd been able to help. She and the Doctor had had long talks about their children and how they related to them, how they were on two different levels when it came to interacting with them. He was better when they were children, she had been more suited for when they were older, and that was fine with them, they were different people with different strengths. Being a child, it was easier to break the rules without consequence, but when they were older the laws and rules had to be followed. They both had, at times, felt like they weren't adequate when it came to their children, that they were a letdown of sorts, when one parent was able to handle something the other couldn't. But they worked on it and worked through it. Now, she'd had a chance to actually help a small child…and now that child was in danger.

The manner of her danger, how she was being carried away hadn't exactly helped any though. She knew it was reminding both her and the Doctor of a very similar situation their daughter had found herself in once and it was doing their nerves in the longer they were not out there helping Merry get back to safety.

"Why are we walking away?" Clara's voice called to them as they reached the market, "We can't just walk away. This is our fault, Judge!" she added, "WE talked her into doing this!"

"Yes I know," the Judge stopped, spinning around to face her, "And if you would allow us to continue on our way, we'd be out there helping her, right now."

"There's one thing you need to know about travelling with me," the Doctor looked at Clara as well, even though he wasn't sure how the Judge had a hand in this, though he could guess that she and Clara had encountered the girl before all this happened, he wasn't' going to let Clara accuse either of them of just running off and leaving the girl alone, "Well, one thing apart from the blue box and the two hearts. We don't walk away."

"Now, come on," the Judge turned and hurried off, the Doctor with her, the two of them going right for Dor'een's stall. She rolled her eyes slightly as the Doctor started to bark and yap at the woman, she would have to check the TARDIS's translation circuits after this, see just why Dor'een's words weren't translating. According to Martha Jones, the TARDIS had failed to translate Judoon as well and she was sure there were probably a few other languages out there that the circuit had been damaged to not translate.

The Doctor started to apt himself down, before looking at the Judge, "We need something precious."

"I've just got my mobile," the Judge shook her head, "My pockets don't work like yours," and the phone wouldn't help, it was too easily replaceable.

"Um…" the Doctor tried to dig in his pockets, but there was nothing, so he looked at Clara.

"Well, you must have something," Clara shook her head as well, "All the places you've seen."

"This," he pulled out the sonic, "I don't want to give it away. It comes in handy."

"You're 1,000 years old," Clara looked between them, "And that's it, your spanner and your mobile?"

"Screwdriver!" he huffed, it wasn't a spanner!

"Seriously?" Clara shook her head, "You two are married! Don't you have some sort of…of…precious thing from that? You've had years together!"

"We're also aliens Clara," the Judge reminded her, holding up her left hand to show her that there was no ring there, "We don't exactly subscribe to human tradition. No wedding rings, nothing on us at the moment that would help."

The Doctor very nearly smiled at that, no beamed at that, at her choice of words. She hadn't said that they didn't have anything of their marriage that would help, at all, but just that there was nothing ON them at the moment that would help. It meant...well, it meant that their marriage was salvageable, didn't it? He knew they were trying to work towards what they had, bridge the distance that had grown between them, reestablish their vows to each other. He had been hopeful it was working, had seen them getting closer and closer. But to hear this? It was like a reaffirmation that it was working, it WAS getting better. And that nearly made his hearts swell, would have made him turn to the Judge and kiss her, truly kiss her, had it not been for the seriousness of the situation.

Clara blinked at the Judge's words, her breath catching at the Judge's mention of rings. She hadn't exactly been thinking of wedding rings when she said that, but she supposed in the back of her mind it was a thought. She HAD noticed that they didn't wear rings and, even though she knew they were aliens, a part of her mind had just wondered if they HAD them but didn't wear them. For being married the Time Lords didn't act like it. What if they were estranged or something? Or working on their marriage? Perhaps they had rings but didn't wear them because of it, and if they didn't wear rings, then maybe they wouldn't mind using them for money.

But if they didn't use rings…

She looked down at her hand, at a ring on her finger, "It's my Mum's," she murmured, her mother's wedding ring actually. She bit her lip, for one brief moment considering not taking it off, but the sound of Merry's frantic and frightened cries for help echoed in her ears. So she slipped her ring off and handed it to Dor'een before she could change her mind.

The three of them stood there in silence, watching Dor'een intently as she sensed the importance of the ring before she nodded and stepped back, gesturing at the moped, allowing them to rush for it, scrambling on and taking off into the sky, out of the market and into space.

They could see Merry easily, the golden glow of the field that was surrounding her made her obvious in the darkness around them. The Doctor urged the moped on faster, the Judge behind him with Clara behind her. They were nearly there, nearly beside her when Clara stood to reach out to her, calling the girl's name, reaching and reaching…only for Merry to be sucked right away, right into the pyramid as a door shut behind her.

Unfortunately, the Doctor, who had turned the moped to follow Merry, had accelerated too quickly and now they were heading right for the door that had closed.

"Brakes!" Clara screamed, "Brakes!"

"Please tell me you can find the brakes!" the Judge even shouted a bit as they really did rather quite rapidly approach the doors.

The Doctor, clearly, could not find the brakes for he turned the moped instead, allowing it to skid to a halt just inches in front of the wall of the pyramid, landing them on a small ledge just before the doors.

"Clara…" the Judge began.

"Yeah?" Clara panted behind her.

"You're showing your simian habits."

"My what?" Clara looked up from where she'd buried her head down behind the Judge's back.

"You're latching onto me like a monkey," the Judge told her.

Clara quickly let go of the Judge who, she just realized, she really had been gripping rather tightly, like a baby monkey probably would its mother, "Sorry."

The two women quickly got off the moped and followed the Doctor to the door that he was now scanning with his sonic, trying to find a way in, checking the readings as he went, "Oh, that's interesting."

"Then why are you frowning?" the Judge gave him a look, rubbing slightly at her neck from where Clara had grabbed her.

"It's a frequency modulated acoustic lock. The key changes ten million, zillion, squillion times a second."

"Can you open it?" Clara frowned.

"Technically, no. In reality, also no."

"So what part of not having a way in is interesting?" the Judge sighed.

"Well, means we can give this a stab," he grinned, moving backwards before he quickly rushed at the door, half leaping into the air as he tried to shove his arm against it, trying to break it down.

The Judge closed her eyes, "Please tell me you didn't just try to break down a stone door you're your arm?"

"Alright," the Doctor groaned from the ground, "I won't," before he popped up and started to try and flash the sonic on it again, unlock the door somehow.

"How can they just stand there and watch?" Clara breathed.

"Because this is sacred ground."

"Because it's human nature," the Judge added.

"Oi!" Clara frowned at that.

"Look at your executions in the past Clara," the Judge sighed, moving to the back wall and feeling along it, hoping there might be some sort of secret control that could open the door, "How many humans, throughout your history, have gathered just to watch someone be hanged or beheaded?"

"But this isn't an execution," Clara argued, "And Merry is just a child!"

"And Grandfather is just a god," the Doctor countered, "Well, he is to them, anyway. And Gods are difficult to get others to fight against."

"Merry!" Clara rushed to the door, trying to bang against it when they heard Merry scream from within, "Merry, hold on! We'll be there soon! Doctor?" she looked at him, but he was fiddling with the sonic, "Judge?" she turned her attention to the other woman.

"I haven't got anything," the Judge shook her head, "There's no switch or key out here that'll open it."

"Ah ha!" the Doctor shouted suddenly, "The sonic's locked on to the acoustic tumblers."

"Meaning?" Clara gave him a look.

"Meaning, I get to do this!" he thrust the sonic at the door's base, grinning widely as the door started to rise, revealing Merry standing on the other side, inside a chamber of sorts. There was a priest, a man in a red robe, kneeling in the middle of the room, singing under his breath to what appeared to be a mummified humanoid figure sitting inside a glass case before him. The room was closed off on all other sides, just the door the Doctor was opening seeming to be a way in, "Hello there," he greeted Merry, "I'm the Doctor, and you've met Clara and the Judge. Clara was supposed to be having a nice day out," he turned the sonic off once the door had lifted all the way and began to walk towards the girl, "Still, it's early yet," only to quickly whip it out once more and flash the sonic up as the door began to shut again, "Are you coming, then?" he tried to nod Merry closer to them, away from what was going on inside the room, "Did I mention that the door is immensely heavy?"

"Leave," Merry insisted, "You'll wake him!"

"Really quite extraordinarily heavy."

"Oh for god's sake," the Judge muttered, getting a little irritated with the Doctor now before she ducked down slightly and entered the room, "Merry, we need to go…"

"No," Merry stepped back, "Go away!"

"Not without you," Clara agreed, joining the Judge inside, reaching out for the girl.

"You said I wouldn't get it wrong and then I got it wrong! And now this has happened. Look what's happened!"

"Merry that's NOT what happened," the Judge told her, moving to kneel in front of the girl, "Ask the Doctor, he was there the last time the Queen of Years sang that song, and it went exactly like it did last time, didn't it Doctor?" she looked back at him, "Merry sang the song exactly right, didn't she?"

"Yeah, yeah, yup, yes she did," the Doctor nodded, struggling to keep the door open.

"See?" she turned back to Merry, "This, whatever it is that's happening, is NOT your fault Merry."

"That doesn't mean anything," Merry frowned, tears in her eyes, "Something still went wrong. You have to go! Go now! Or he'll eat us all."

"Well, he's ugly," Clara tried to keep the girl from being frightened, making fun of the thing she was scared of, "But, you know, to be honest..." she moved closer to the mummy in the glass box, "I don't think he looks big enough."

"Not our meat," Merry spun around to face Clara as the Judge stood and moved around, wanted to keep in Merry's line of sight, "Our souls."

Clara stepped off the small dais that led up to the glass cage and reached out a hand to try and pull Merry away, but Merry closed her eyes, pressing her hands to her temples and focused. The Judge, recognizing telekinesis building when she saw it, quickly shoved Clara out of the way as a purple burst released from Merry and struck her, sending her back and slamming into the glass, her arms and legs locked in place. Well…that was better than she thought might happen. Young children often didn't have the greatest control of their abilities, for all she knew, Merry could have nearly sent Clara flying into the walls or through the glass, and she'd rather SHE take that blow than a fragile human.

"He doesn't want you," Merry told them as Clara picked herself up and tried to run to the Judge's side, tugging on the woman's arms to try and release her but she was stuck, "He wants me. If you don't leave, he'll eat you all up too."

"Yes and you don't want that, do you?" the Doctor called, trying to make his way into the room now that his wife was trapped, "You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back."

"Yes," Merry spun to him, though her hold on the Judge remained.

"Doctor," the Judge called, "Do it," she gave him a meaningful look.

"Ok," he nodded, ducking under the door, releasing the sonic so that the door would shut behind him. He knew what she was asking, for HIM to try and get through to Merry. She had lost a bit of trust in her and Clara, due to all this happening, and he knew that the Judge seemed to think that HE had a better time dealing with small children than she did. Even though Clara was a nanny for small children, it seemed even she needed help this time.

Clara pause din her struggles to resale the Judge and gaped at the Doctor, "Did you just lock us in?"

"Yep."

"With the soul-eating monster."

"Yep."

"And is there actually a way to get out?"

"What? Before it eats our souls?"

"Ideally, yes."

"Oddly enough Clara," the Judge remarked as she looked back at her, "With him, there always ends up being a way in the end. Though…" her gaze drifted to the lone priest still singing, "It probably won't help to have him here filling Merry's head with guilt and duty and obligation."

The Doctor nodded, understanding, that was one of the priests that had likely raised Merry to believe that the mummy-monster was going to get her, he'd have to be dealt with and pushed out of the room before Merry would even begin to listen to them, "What, are you trying to sing the Old God back to sleep?" he scoffed, moving to crouch before the man, "It's not going to happen. He's waking up, mate. He coming, ready or not. You want to run," he waited only a moment longer, for the man to halt in his singing, taking a deep breath in and stare up at him, "That's it, then? Song's over?"

"The song is over," the man swallowed, moving to stand, "My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix, and the Long Song ended with me."

The Judge closed her eyes, "Please tell me he didn't just teleport out of here and leave the rest of us?"

"That IS what appears to have happened, yes," the Doctor sighed as the electrical crackle of energy from the priest's teleport disappeared from view, taking the man with it, "Still, that's it, then! Song's over! Which means…" he spun around, flicking the sonic at the mummy, making the Judge wince as a deafening roar went off behind her, Clara jumping back when the mummy sprang to life and leapt at the cage, starting to bash itself against the glass, hurrying to Merry's side as the girl cowered away from it. The Doctor, however, ran right up to the glass wall, pressing his face to it to look at the mummy closer, "Look at that!"

"One day dear, I just may kill you," the Judge shot him a narrow-eyed look, not even needing to ask to know what he'd done, especially not when Merry shouted.

"You've woken him!" the girl gasped, shifting back into Clara's hold, shaking.

"No," the Doctor shook his head as he walked around the cage, "We didn't wake him."

"I'm pretty sure you gave him a jolt though," the Judge muttered, making sure she was too quiet for Merry to hear.

"And you didn't wake him, either," the Doctor continued, "He's waking because it's his time to wake. And feed. On you, apparently. On your stories."

"She didn't say stories, she said souls," Clara reminded him.

"Everyone's got a story Clara," the Judge looked at the two girls, "Your life is one giant story, from birth to death, your memories are stories of your past. Your soul is like…the book it's written in, where it's stored."

"Everything that ever happened to us," the Doctor agreed, making his way to the Judge's side now, absently flashing the sonic along her, trying to see if there was a way to disrupt Merry's telekinetic hold, "People we love. People we lost. People we found again," he smiled at the Judge, earning a small smile from her as well, "Against all the odds. He threatens to wake, they offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of Years," he spun around to face Merry, "Yours."

"Stop it," Clara hissed, clutching Merry to her as the girl hugged her tightly, "You're scaring her."

"Good," the Doctor headed down the steps, away from the Judge and over to Merry, "She should be scared! She's sacrificing herself. She should know what that means," he moved before the little girl, "Do you know what it means, Merry?"

"A god chose me," Merry mumbled, peeking at the Doctor from Clara's hold.

"From what I saw Merry, I highly doubt this thing," the Judge tried to jerk her head at the mummy, "Is a god. A god wouldn't be able to be controlled by singing songs or lullabies, it would be too powerful for that."

"It'll feed on your soul, but that doesn't make it a god," the Doctor agreed, "It is a vampire and you don't need to give yourself to it," he glanced back at the Judge, looking her in the eye a moment before nodding as he came to a decision of how best to handle this. He knew how the Judge would have gone about it, she would have found the legends of Akhaten, would have read up on the god and the Queen of Years and found some sort of loophole in the responsibilities of the Queen, found some way to convince Merry it was alright. But her way would take ages, and it would be better argued with an adult, Merry was still just a child, and she needed something a child would latch onto, "Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story?" he leaned over to face Merry, to look her in the eye, "One you might not have heard? All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago, in the heart of a far away star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and new planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing-wax and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you," he tapped her over her heart, "You're unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another. Getting rid of that existence isn't a sacrifice. It is a waste."

"So…" Merry hesitated, "If I don't, then everyone else..."

"Will be fine."

"We won't let anything happen to them Merry," the Judge added, giving the Doctor a sad smile to see him get through to Merry. It reminded her so much of the stories he would tell their children when they had been younger.

"How?" Merry whispered, eyeing the mummy.

"There's always a way," the Doctor grinned.

"You promise?"

The Judge's smile feel slightly as Merry looked to the Doctor for that, but she couldn't blame the girl for it, she and Clara had promised her she would be fine and the ceremony would go well, but the girl had ended up being in danger. They had both broken their promise but the Doctor had yet to make one to her.

"Cross my hearts," the Doctor winked at her, crossing both his hearts with a finger.

"So, Merry, if you wouldn't mind…" the Judge called.

Merry frowned but nodded, closing her eyes and releasing the Judge from her restraints. The Doctor hurried to her side, taking her hand and giving her a quick glance over, just making sure that she was alright, before he turned them to head for the back door, the sonic out once more, ready to get the four of them away…only for the ground to start shaking.

"Something's coming," Clara breathed, feeling the hair on the back of her neck rise up, "What's coming?"

Merry let out a terrified gasp in realization, "The Vigil!"

"And the Vigil is…" the Judge shook her head, not entirely understanding. Granted she didn't know much about Akhaten beyond what the Doctor and Susan and the pamphlets had told her, but even the Doctor looked confused.

"If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon..." Merry trailed off, her eyes widening in utter fear.

"Yes?" the Doctor tried to lightly prod her to continue.

"It's their job to feed her to Grandfather."

No sooner had the words left her mouth an electrical crackle sounded behind them. They spun around to see three creatures had appeared there out of nowhere. They were tall, thin, dressed in black but with pale skin. They didn't appear to have eyes, small round objects where they were meant to be, nor did they have mouths but what looked like long grates running from where their nose should be to their chins.

The Doctor instantly pulled out his sonic as the Judge and Clara ushered Merry behind them, the poor girl crying out in fright, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

"Don't you dare!" Clara threatened as the Vigil began to approach.

"Yes, because they clearly find humans so threatening," the Judge scoffed as the Vigil continued to close in on them.

"Stay back," the Doctor tried, gripping the sonic in both hands and aiming it at the trio, "I'm armed. With a screwdriver!"

"Not helping!" the Judge shouted seconds before the Vigil in the middle let out a bellowing cry, the sound of it echoing so loudly it literally forced the four of them back, sending them flying into the wall and floor.

It was quite a specific bellow and the Judge was sure, had she not gotten a grip on Merry's arm, that the girl would have been left standing alone with the bellow targeting only the adults. But she had grabbed Merry and she held on and, while she was sure she should feel guilty that Merry had gotten thrown back along with her, she couldn't muster it as it had pulled Merry farther away from the Vigil and kept her right at her side where she could be better protected.

"Clara!" the Doctor groaned, pushing himself up, "Sonic!" he pointed to the ground beside Clara where the sonic had been flung and the girl quickly scampered over to it, grabbing it up and throwing it to the Doctor. He aimed it at the Vigil once more, flicking it on just as they let out another bellow, but the sonic had synched to them now that it had gotten hit once before, repelled the energy the Vigil were sending and created what appeared to be a force field of sorts, keeping the Vigil back.

"Merry," Clara turned to her, crouching down and taking Merry's other hand, "You know all the stories. You must know if there's another way out."

"There's the tale," Merry nodded, "A secret song. 'The Thief of the Temple and the Nimmer's Door.'"

"Please tell me the secret song _opens_ Nimmer's Door," the Judge looked down at her.

"It does," Merry nodded, "And the door is in the temple!"

"How does it go?" Clara asked, "Can you sing it?"

Merry turned and sang a small tune, a door to the side that had blended into the wall rising instantly for them.

"Go!" the Doctor urged and the Judge pushed Clara and Merry towards the door, pausing in the doorway to look back at the Doctor.

"Doctor!" she shouted.

He nodded and flicked the sonic, stepping forward and pushing the Vigil back, rebounding their bellows, reshaping the force field to surround the Vigil instead, trapping them. He grinned, flipping the sonic over in his hands before tucking it into his pocket and dashing for the doorway, pulling the Judge out with him by the hand...only for them both to stop just inches short of running into Merry and Clara when they heard a roar from behind them and a beam of light much like the one that had struck Merry now strike the sun.

The Judge looked back into the room, gasping and grabbing the Doctor's arm, "The Vigil are gone."

"What?" Clara spun around, seeing that the Vigil truly weren't following them, "Where did they go?"

"Grandfather's awake," the Doctor remarked, "They're of no function anymore."

"Well, you could sound happier about it."

The Doctor winced as a small explosion sounded from the sun before them, "Actually, I think I may have made a tactical boo-boo. More of a semantics mix-up, really."

"What boo-boo?"

"What mix-up?" the Judge gave him a look as though he had better explain quickly.

"I thought the Old God was Grandfather but he wasn't," he told them, "It was just the Grandfather's alarm clock."

"Sorry, a bit lost," Clara shook her head, "Who's the Old God? Is there an Old God?"

"I'm going to say…THAT is the Old God," the Judge breathed, making Clara and the Doctor look at her, following her gaze to the sun she had started to stare at, what looked like a sinister face starting to form in it, making the sun expand and darken at the same time.

"Oh, my stars," Clara whispered, staring at it as well, "What do we do?"

"Against that?" the Doctor scoffed, "I don't know. Do you know?" he glanced at Clara who shook her head, "I don't know. Any ideas?" he turned to the Judge who could only shrug.

"But you promised!" Merry frowned at him, "You promised!"

"I did," he nodded, "I did promise."

"He'll eat us all. He'll spread across the system, consuming the Seven Worlds. And when there's no more to eat, he'll embark on a new odyssey among the stars."

"And this is why bedtime stories ought to be reviewed first," the Judge muttered, that story, especially for the Queen of Years, probably gave Merry nightmares for ages! Putting all that guilt on her, that if SHE failed THIS would happen? It was utterly ridiculous. Complete rubbish.

Or at least it would be now as she doubted the Doctor would allow the star to do that to the Universe he'd worked so hard to protect.

"I say leg it," Clara suggested.

"Leg it where, exactly?" the Doctor nearly snorted, sounding, to Clara, very much like the Judge in that moment.

"Don't know. Lake District?"

"Oh, the Lake District's lovely," he smiled, "Let's definitely go there," he turned to the Judge, "We can eat scones. They do great scones in 1927."

"Maybe later, dear," the Judge patted his arm, still looking at the sun, "It's a date."

He grinned at that, at the idea of having a proper date with her, till his eyes fell on the sun as well, the enormity of the situation hitting him once more.

"You're going to fight it, aren't you?" Clara breathed.

"Regrettably, yes," he sighed, "I think I may be about to do that."

"WE will do that," the Judge corrected.

"No, no," he shook his head and looked at her, making her look at him for his denial, "_I_ will."

"But…"

"_YOU need to get them,_" he nodded his head to Clara and Merry, using Gallifreyan so they wouldn't hear his plans and start to argue with him, "_Back to the city._"

"_Theta…_"

"_Please,_" he cut in gently, squeezing her hand he hadn't let go of, "_I saw it before, Carah. You pushed Clara away on purpose. To protect her, didn't you?_"

"_What does that matter now?_" she shook her head.

"_You don't want to lose her again any more than I do,_" he said softly, "_We lost her twice already, nearly lost her to the wi-fi,_" he gave her a sad smile, "_We have to keep her safe._"

"_I told you I didn't want you to face things alone any longer,_" she reminded him.

"_I know. But Clara and Merry need to get away and, well, it's a space moped. Do you really trust a human to fly it back?_" he knew that Clara likely could, it was truly ridiculously easy to fly, but he knew that it would be the one thing that would get the Judge to agree to it, leave something up to a human and she'd want to make sure it was done properly, add in the life and safety of a small child and she'd be even more so.

"_Fine,_" she ground out, not at all pleased with this, "_But I'm coming back the second they're off that moped._"

"_I wouldn't expect anything less,_" he smiled at her, leaning in to kiss her forehead.

"It's really big," Clara observed.

"It IS a star," the Judge pointed out, as though the reason it was 'so big' had to be that obvious.

"I've seen bigger," the Doctor remarked to diffuse the situation.

"Really?" Clara turned to gape at him.

"Are you joking? It's massive!"

"You DID face a larger, more deadly star though," the Judge reminded him, "Martha told me about it," she gave him a look at his confusion, "'Burn with me?'" she sighed, "This one at least uses tiny fireflies of light instead of burning out from the inside out."

"Let's not jinx it dear," the Doctor winced at that, they really didn't know how powerful this star was, certainly it had to be quite a bit if the people had orchestrated this entire ceremony and lullaby and warnings to try and contain it.

"I'm staying with you," Clara determined.

"No," the Judge sighed, "Neither you nor Merry are. I'm taking you back to the city."

"But I can...assist."

"And how, exactly, are you going to do that?" the Judge gave her a look, leaving Clara to flounder for an answer.

"What about that stuff you said?" she crossed her arms, "'We don't walk away?'"

"No," the Doctor agreed, "We don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run. We run and run as fast as we can and we don't stop running until we're out from under the shadow. Now, off you pop. The Judge will take you back on the moped," he straightened his tie, "_I'll_ walk," before he gave the Judge a final wink and smile and turned on his heel to head back into the temple, trying to work out some sort of plan for how to deal with this star.

He was starting to think he should actually invest in them now, plans instead of things.

Because right now…he had neither.

~8~

Clara winced as a rather…sharp word came out of the Judge. She couldn't understand it, it was probably in whatever language that Time Lords spoke, but she could tell it was likely some sort of swear word.

"What is it?" Clara asked. They'd only just landed and the Judge had ushered her and Merry off the moped. It seemed like she had been trying to get it to take off again but it wasn't moving.

"It needs to recharge," the Judge muttered, angry, very angry. She'd only agreed to take Merry and Clara back because she'd thought that she'd could make it to the Doctor right after.

She hadn't been lying in apologizing to him for not having been there with him when he'd faced other dangers in the past. She wanted to be there, she…they were working on their relationship and it was a partnership, she should be there, she WANTED to be there…and now she couldn't be. The moped, when they'd first landed on the pyramid, it had been resting there for a while before they left, it had likely recharged, but right now she was stuck there and she didn't want to be.

"Isn't he frightened?" Merry's voice came to them, making them look over and see her standing near the edge of the amphitheater, staring at the pyramid where the Doctor was.

"Yes," the Judge swallowed, "He is," and that just made her want to get back to him all the sooner. He genuinely had no idea how to face this, what to do, how to stop it, whether the star was actually a god, some sort of other alien, or if it was like the sun Martha had mentioned that had taken him over once. He didn't know what he was dealing with and that made it that much more dangerous.

"I want to help."

"So do we," Clara nodded, stepping away from the Judge to put her hand on Merry's shoulder.

Merry looked up at Clara a moment, then back to the Judge who had turned to the moped to try and see if there was some way to speed up the recharging process, and back to the sun and pyramid. She glanced to the small pedestal she'd been standing on before when she'd first started the ceremony and stepped back on it. There was a song she knew, one that might help distract the sun, that might help the Doctor, show him that he wasn't alone in facing this thing down, that others were trying to help him.

"Rest now," she began to sing, "My warrior..."

The Judge glanced back and forth from the moped to Merry, and past her towards the pyramid. She could hear the Doctor, in her mind, he wasn't that far away that her mind couldn't touch his, she could hear every word he was saying. It was faint, like a whisper, but she knew he'd come up with a plan. Well, a thing, at the very least, but it was something. She just needed him to keep the star distracted enough for her to get back to him. Admittedly she had no idea what to do when she got there, had no idea how she'd be able to help, but it was just knowing that she could help HIM, that she could be there for him, that he wouldn't be alone.

'_All these people who've lived in terror of you and your judgment?_' she glanced around, hearing that in her mind, '_All these people whose ancestors devoted themselves. Sacrificed themselves. To you. Can you hear them singing?_' the audience was joining Merry in her song now, their voices growing louder, so loud she knew that the Doctor and that star could probably hear it, '_You like to think you're a god. But you're not a god. You're just a parasite eaten out with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow. So... come on, then. Take mine._'

"Don't you dare!" she hissed under her breath, her hearts stopping for a moment when she heard that.

'_Take my memories. But I hope you've got a big appetite. Because I've lived a long life and I've seen a few things…_'

"Oh come on," she crouched down before the moped, frantically searching for how to get the moped powered up faster. She silently cursed herself for not having thought to take the sonic from the Doctor and bring it with her. It would have helped, undoubtedly, it would have been able to get the moped ready to go within moments! Ooh she should have taken one.

Perhaps she should ask him for one of her own?

She nearly snorted at that, with her luck she'd end up losing it. She still couldn't understand how things disappeared from her pockets so easily. She didn't have bottomless ones like the Doctor did, but they always ended up being lost in them. It was why she'd had to get a small clipping holder for her mobile and attach it to the belt around her waist. Jack had gotten rather frustrated when she'd lost her 7th phone in her pockets and insisted that she just clip it to her. It worked, but she knew she couldn't walk around with a phone and sonic hanging off her hip. That would look ridiculous.

She let out a breath, feeling a coldness seep into her, knowing it wasn't HER that was feeling it, but the Doctor. She spun half around, seeing there were golden tendrils of the sun drifting towards the pyramid, towards the Doctor surely. It was truly trying to take his memories from him, it was his offering.

'_I walked away from the Last Great Time War. My wife and I, we mark the passing of the Time Lords. I saw the birth of the universe and I watched as time ran out, moment by moment, until nothing remained. No time. No space. Just me. For the longest time it was just me, until a miracle happened. I have seen miracles, I have seen horrors. I've walked in universes where the laws of physics were devised by the mind of a madman. I've watched universes freeze and creations burn. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. I've lost things you'll never understand…_'

The Judge closed her eyes, seeing a flash of their planet in her mind. She'd seen all that he was thinking of as he spoke, she'd seen his memories of the horrors of the war, his memory of seeing her for the first time since it, of his adventures before and after her, and then the one memory that broke her hearts.

Their children.

She shook her head lightly as she saw in his mind how he remembered them, their smiling, childish faces, their youthful grins and bright eyes. It was a stark comparison to how she remembered them, the last happy memory she had of them before the war, as adults, with a seriousness and understanding of the world but still with smiles on their faces. Despite the differences, neither of them could bear to think of the children during the war, to think of what they might have regenerated into, to think of what they might have looked like when they fell in battle. They didn't want to know it, they didn't want to see it, it was hard enough to have felt them fall, but to have seen it as well would be horrible.

'_And I know things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze. So come on then! Take it! Take it all, baby! Have it! You have it all!_'

"Finally!" she gasped, when she heard a beep pulling her attention back to the moped as it started to power up once more, right as the singing drew to a close.

She quickly hopped onto the moped, only glancing back when she felt it dip to see Clara had raced after her and gotten on as well. She didn't even have time to tell Clara to get off, it would have been an argument, and she didn't have time for that. She merely turned back and set the moped to rise, flying past Merry and towards the pyramid just as the sun began to expand.

"So what's the plan?" Clara called behind her, her arms around the Judge's waist, keeping the green plaid of her shift from flapping all over the place.

"The Doctor tried to offer his memories to it," the Judge told her, "Memories are like a story. But not even he has enough. The star isn't going to be sated. It needs something more, it needs to be...overfed or something, to be so filled that it has no need to take from the people or Merry again."

"And how do we do that?" Clara shook her head.

"I've no idea."

"So we're heading to face that sun without a plan?"

"We're heading to the Doctor, so he doesn't have to do it alone," she corrected, turning the moped to the side, skidding it back to the platform they had first landed on.

The two women hopped off the moped and ran through the pyramid, the doors now opened as the sun had awoken, there was no need to keep others out now. They ran towards the back of the pyramid, to the side that was facing the sun, and nearly stopped short when they saw the Doctor hunched over, on his knees, his head bowed, panting and exhausted and pained.

"Doctor!" the Judge rushed over to him, kneeling before him and taking his head in her hands, checking him over, nearly sagging in relief when she saw that the sun, having determined his memories weren't enough, had left them alone. But the experience was enough to wear the Doctor out, to have his memories sifted through, to have them tugged at.

Clara looked at the Judge as the woman hugged the Doctor tightly, recalling her reaction to finding the Doctor lying on the ground of the café when the wi-fi had attacked. There was a story there, between the two of them, something that was part marriage and part something else. It was like…watching a sequel forming. Like they'd had their story and now Part 2 was in the makes and she was privy to it.

She closed her eyes, a bitter thought hitting her, remembering how her mother and father would never have that chance, the ability to have a Part 2. Her mother was gone, her story was over.

Her eyes snapped open as another, slightly more hopeful yet equally as painful, thought hit her. She turned, rummaging through her small bag and pulling out her book, 101 Places to See, and opened it to page one, to the leaf her father had given her. They'd told her the story of it, how, because of that leaf, her parents had met. It was her mother's story, her father said, it was the beginning of their lives together. But it was more than that, she realized now, it wasn't the end of a story, it was truly the start. The leaf began it all, and there was no telling how many other stories would have come had her mother lived. This leaf…it was her mother, it was her future, the one she didn't get to have.

"Still hungry?" she called to the sun, stepping up to the edge of the small area, facing the sun, ignoring the Time Lords for the moment, "Well, I brought something for you. This," she held up the leaf, "The most important leaf in human history. _The_ most important leaf in human history. It's full of stories, full of history. And full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been that never were. Passed on to me," her voice broke at that, glimpsing the Doctor and Judge standing in the corner of her eye, "This leaf isn't just the past, it's a whole future that never happened. There are billions and millions of unlived days for every day we live. An infinity. All the days that never came. And these are all my mum's."

The Doctor let out a breath at that, watching as the golden tendrils began to drift out from the sun once more, reaching for the leaf, slowly turning it into small golden particles, "Well, come on then. Eat up. Are you full? I expect so because there's quite a difference, isn't there, between what was and what should have been? There's an awful lot of one, but there's an infinity of the other."

"And even an infinity would be too much for you," the Judge nodded, swallowing hard, seeing tears in Clara's eyes as the leaf disappeared, "You'll over eat," she murmured, "Too much of something is never a good thing."

And sure enough, it wasn't, for, moments later, the sun shrunk in on itself, imploding, leaving them in darkness.

~8~

The Judge and Doctor were at the console, setting the TARDIS down as Clara headed to the door to peek outside it, needing just that little bit of home that had been lost in the overflow of aliens. The Judge had to admit though, for the first time being immersed with aliens, Clara had had a better reaction than she'd heard Rose had had on her first trip. Though, that could also be because the Doctor had decided that the end and destruction of the Earth would be a good first trip for Rose whereas a nice (or what was meant to be a nice) festival had been planned for Clara.

"Home again, home again, jiggity-jig!" the Doctor laughed.

"It looks different," Clara remarked as she eyed the average, everyday street that the Maitlands lived on.

"It shouldn't be," the Judge frowned, moving to the monitor to double check the Doctor's piloting, "It's the same," she confirmed, "Exactly where we picked you up, if an hour later. Hope that's alright."

Clara nodded and turned back to them, eyeing them both a moment before she crossed her arms, "You were there."

"We're in a lot of places," the Judge countered, "Him more than me," she nodded at the Doctor.

"At Mum's grave," Clara elaborated, "You were both there, watching. What were you doing there?"

"Don't know," the Doctor began to fidget with the controls, absently fiddling with them, which didn't do much to assure either Clara or the Judge that he was telling the truth, "We were just...making sure."

"Well, HE was," the Judge clarified, she had been rather distracted by Jack's text.

"Making sure of what?" Clara eyed them suspiciously.

The Doctor glanced at the Judge but she could only shake her head slightly, she would have just been quiet about it all, but he'd spoken and neither knew what to say, neither were sure Clara would believe anything but the truth, "You remind me of someone," the Doctor offered.

"Who?"

"Someone who died."

"Well, whoever she was, I'm not her, ok?" Clara gave him a firm look, "If you want me to travel with you, that's fine. But as me. Not a bargain basement stand-in for someone else. I'm not going to compete with a ghost."

"You shouldn't have to compete with anyone," the Judge spoke, making the two look at her to see that she was looking intently at the monitor. She didn't seem to have realized she'd said anything worth looking over at her for, and she hadn't, not really. It was the WAY she'd said it though, as though she had ample experience, as though she were coming from a place of understanding, even…a place of resentment, just a smidge of it.

"No," the Doctor agreed, eyeing the Judge a moment longer, but she truly didn't appear to have realized she'd said anything in a way that was out of place and was merely walking around the controls to prepare the TARDIS to return to the Vortex when Clara left. He shook his head and turned back to Clara, pulling out her mother's wedding ring from his pocket and holding it out to her, "They wanted you to have it."

"Who did?" Clara asked.

"Everyone. All the people you saved."

Clara smiled softly at that and took the ring back, kissing it quickly before she slipped it on, giving him a wide smile of thanks for helping recover her precious object.

"You," the Doctor promised her, "No one else. Clara."

Clara nodded at that and turned to head out of the TARDIS, giving them both a wave before she disappeared from the box, leaving the two Time Lords alone.

~8~

The Judge's eyes opened, a small frown making its way onto her face as she tried to work out why she'd woken. She was lying in her bedroom of the TARDIS, a separate room from the Doctor's, on her back, her sheets half kicked to her stomach, and there was nothing in the room that should have woken her. The walls were soundproof, a gift from the TARDIS so she couldn't hear when the Doctor was mucking around with the console or other objects in the box. She'd had enough time on the TARDIS to know that she'd either end up going half mad wondering what he was doing and if it was dangerous when she heard him tinkering away, or she'd end up jolting awake from him dropping something or blowing something up and end up irritated. It was the TARDIS's way of letting her sleep, knowing that the box itself could handle what the Doctor did to her and, if it came to it, the TARDIS could wake her.

But there hadn't been any alarms going off or any other warnings from the TARDIS. And if it wasn't the TARDIS then…

She let out a soft breath, closing her eyes a moment as she realized what had woken her.

She pushed herself out of her bed, her feet hitting the chilled floor of the box as she got up. Her room was sparse and orderly, a desk, a bed, and a bookshelf being all she really needed, a small door in the back with a little wardrobe. There wasn't a carpet, the floors weren't wood, but metal. The room was set up so skillfully she would almost believe she was back in a room on Gallifrey so she'd asked the TARDIS to leave the floors bare, a small reminder when she stepped on it that she was in a TARDIS and not back home.

She yawned widely as she shuffled out of her room and across the hall to the other door in front of hers. She didn't bother to knock, just opened it and hung half into the room, braced on the doorknob with her feet still in the hall, her other hand resting on the doorframe for more support so she wouldn't topple over, and looked at the Doctor sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands, "Bad dream?"

He looked up, almost startled to see her there and gave her a sad smile, "Always."

"Because of Merry?" she stepped in, making her way to the edge of the bed as well, sitting beside him.

He immediately reached out and took her hand, resting it on her leg, grinning just slightly more when he saw her pajamas were black and white plaid, big on her, with a long sleeved button up shirt. He knew what she was asking in thinking this was because of Merry. She had been with him for a while now, he hadn't had a nightmare that had him jolting awake except for a handful of times, and his wife was clever, she'd see the pattern in what gave him his bad dreams.

"Yeah," he nodded.

It always happened when the children were in danger. It always reminded him of his children. He dreamed of the war, but instead of visualizing his children out there and fighting and dying as they were, as adults, he saw them as their younger selves, their first incarnations, his babies, out there in the middle of it all. He saw them in pain and hurt and dying and crying and screaming for him to help them and he couldn't reach them in time.

"I should thank you," she murmured, "You kept me from having one of my own."

"Oh?" he glanced at her.

She nodded this time, "Remember when Tyrin and Ronir were trying to make their own anti-grav device?" he let out a small chuckle at that, recalling his two sons and their attempt at being scientist, "And Sajiba wanted to be a part of it?"

He laughed a little more, "She wanted to be part of it so badly she volunteered to be their guinea pig."

"And their device didn't quite anti-grav an area but shot out like a beam and anti-graved a person," the Judge remarked.

Their smiles faded slightly, recalling that, how similar it was to what happened with Merry. They'd heard their daughter screaming from inside the house, had run out to see their sons frantically trying to turn off the anti-grave machine, a beam of teal light fired out of it in a continuous stream and latched onto their daughter, lifting her up and up and up in the air. They'd run for their children, but the moment they'd reached them, the boys had gotten the machine to turn off…and it dropped their daughter from dozens of feet in the air. The Doctor had dove for her, had managed to catch her as she fell, buffered her fall, cracked two of his own ribs in the process, but saved their daughter. Their sons had gotten a decent scolding out of that, she'd had to ground them for months while the Doctor worked on checking over their daughter and soothing her. The boys had felt so guilty, had apologized profusely, but their daughter still had nightmares of that for a long time after that, she'd been so young.

Seeing it happen to Merry, a gold beam of light instead of teal, seeing it pulling her away instead of up, it was still something that made them think of their children.

"We both had nightmares about that," she recalled.

"I miss them," he admitted quietly, a tremor in his voice, "I miss them so much Carah...and I missed so much of their lives..."

"I do too," she murmured, though she fell silent after speaking that. They both missed their children deeply, it was one thing to miss them in the sense that they had grown up, moved out, started their own lives, to have an 'empty nest' as the humans would say, but it was an entirely different thing to miss them because they were no longer alive. And it was true, he HAD missed so much of their later lives, so much of their accomplishments from when they were grown, so much of the lives they'd created. It hurt her deeply when she would have to tell their children that he wasn't going to be there for some sort of award or promotion, the birth of a grandchild or some other milestone that they experienced. He tried to be there, she knew he did, he made an effort, sometimes he was late, sometimes early, sometimes there wasn't enough time to tell him about it, but he did try. It meant a lot that he tried. But he did miss a lot, she couldn't deny that.

The silence lingered on for quite a while, till the Doctor looked at her, "Carah…I know I shouldn't ask this, I know we're…we're still working things out but…" he swallowed hard, squeezing her hand, "Will you stay? Just…just for tonight. I…the nightmares…"

She cut him off with a gentle nod, "Of course."

He'd always had more nightmares than she had. He'd always felt more guilt about the things he'd done than she had. Because she hadn't done as much as he had. He carried the burden of all the events he'd gotten involved in, of all the moments in his family's life he'd missed, of all the tragedy and horror he'd missed in the war till he'd gotten involved. He carried so much guilt and she knew that, at least half of it, was unjustified, was things beyond his control that he put on himself.

What happened with their children had not been his fault.

It was a war, and their children felt a loyalty to their people, to fighting to protect their families, and…people died in wars. It was terrible, she hated it, she felt enormous guilt as well for having survived her children, she didn't want that. She'd have rather she died than them. She tried hard to think of it only as the war, that it wasn't her fault, that she should have fought harder to keep them out of it. It didn't always work, but she knew she had less to feel guilty about than the Doctor did. She wouldn't begrudge him a comfort, especially when he'd been left alone with his nightmares for centuries on end.

She shifted back onto the bed, sitting up against the headboard, a small smile creeping onto her face when the Doctor slunk back under the covers and curled up on his side, his head on her lap, facing her knees, his arms wrapped around her legs as well. She let her hand drift down to his hair, absently running her fingers through them as she began to hum a small lullaby she'd often heard him sing to the children to help them sleep after a nightmare.

And then, when he fell asleep with the smallest of smiles on his face, she quietly extracted herself from his embrace, making her way to the console room and hoping that she might be able to do something to make him feel better.

He always had loved surprises.

A/N: Sorry for the missing chapter :( I swear I posted it at the right time and when I went to answer notes on reviews I was like 'was the site glitching again?' because it was all ones I answered in this chapter. And then I realized the chapter hadn't loaded at all :( So I'm so sorry for that :(

As for this chapter, little bit of dealing with a child in danger and memories of their children. Now we know their names! :) Now we just have to wait and see what the Judge's surprise for the Doctor is }:)

Last little note, I had a post up on tumblr about this, but I wanted to put it here too. I feel so incredibly bad about all the delays and changes in stories I'm posting this year that I wanted to say I might be considering self-publishing an original story to make up for it. It's about 120 pages in the first draft, but might end up being about 150-200 by the end of it all, in a 2-part sequence, semi-spy themed with bits of sci-fi aspects to it as well. I can't really say more than that, I'm not comfortable putting names or a summary just yet (paranoia about plagiarism and all). But I might put up a summary when I'm closer to actually publishing it if people are interested in it.

So I just wanted to ask...would anyone be interested in an original story from me?

Some notes on reviews...

We'll probably learn who Clara is in the Journey to the Center of the TARDIS episode ;) We'll learn a lot in that episode ;)

No offense taken, no worries ;) I think the Judge and Angel would be interesting to see. The Judge would probably see Angel as naive as the humans whereas Angel would probably gush about how truly inspiring they are lol :) I sort of see the Judge ending up just nodding along just so she doesn't hurt Angel's feelings in the end lol :)

Thank you :) Plagiarism is always hard to deal with and this author seems to pop up more than others. It's sort of like, even when she's not writing DW stories the ones she did, that don't exist anymore, still affect me :( That was a hard revelation to see in a PM, because I do like to think the best in people and think we're all inherently good and decent people and for a moment I did genuinely think it was an accident, and then to see that and realize it never was was hard :( It made me regret having given her a chance and not 'nipping it in the bud' right off the bat. But at least it helped me learn how to deal with plagiarism in a firmer way. I don't think later plagiarizers would be too happy to know that she was really the catalyst for me taking a 'no second chances' approach with any and all plagiarizers after her, but we live and learn :) I'm definitely trying to take the Judge slowly and make this story about rebuilding something that was lost. I'm hoping by near the end of the story that she'll be at a better place with the Doctor and we'll see more of her and the Doctor as a genuine couple for 12, I have BIG plans for those two together ;) (loved the Firefly reference! ;))


	17. Cold War - Part 1

Cold War - Part 1

"Keep your eyes closed," the Judge warned the Doctor as she pointed a finger at him, Clara watching them in curiosity.

They had just set the TARDIS down before the Maitland home, opened the door for Clara, who had a rather long trench coat draped over her, clutched to her, which she dropped only moments after entering the TARDIS to reveal a rather lovely, sleeveless white dress that seemed like it would fit quite well in the 80s, in Vegas, which was just as well as that was where they were planning to go. The Doctor wasn't really dressed in anything outright Vegas style, though he did have rather large sunglasses perched atop his head. The Judge was…well, she still had her plaid kick going (Clara was tempted to ask to see the infamous wardrobe of the TARDIS that had been mentioned once or twice in the past to see just how much of it had to be plaid for the Judge to have so many different options). Instead of plaid shirt and solid trousers, the Judge had swapped for a strapless red and black plaid dress, tight on the top, that flowed out at her hips and went to her knees. Not much different than her normal style, but still…plaid, always plaid.

She had just stepped up to the Time Lords to ask if they were going to go, when there had been a knock on the door. An actual KNOCK on the door. Of course it wasn't that odd, they were still on Earth, anyone could wonder why there was a blue police telephone box sitting in a driveway and go knock on it. But there was no one there, or shouldn't be. The children were all busy, off to play with their friends, and Mr. Maitland was working late. No one was home save her.

The Doctor had seemed rather curious to that sound as well, though the Judge had only grinned and whirled on the Doctor, telling him not to peek, to close his eyes, had literally lifted his hands to cover his eyes.

"What is it?" the Doctor smiled, "Must be good."

"And how can you tell?" the Judge countered, pausing in her turning to head back to the door, though ending up more walking backwards instead, "Your eyes ARE closed, right?"

"Yes, yes, closed," he lifted his hands away for a moment, to show her they were in fact closed, before he placed them back on his eyes, "But…you wouldn't make me not peek, and you wouldn't hide it in here," he tapped the side of his head quickly, "If it wasn't something you knew I'd peek at."

"You'd peek at anything," the Judge shook her head.

"Touché."

"No peeking," the Judge warned once more, pointing at him even though he couldn't see her, before adding in Gallifreyan, "_Or else I'll tell Clara that you sleep in boxers with little bowties on them._"

"You wouldn't!" he cried, dropping his hands and gaping at her.

"Eyes," she gave him a firm look.

He pouted but put his hands over his eyes once more, rolling them first, and huffing silently after, waiting as Clara curiously looked between them, wondering what was going on, watching intently as the Judge opened the doors.

The Doctor tried to remain as quiet as possible, trying to listen for any signs of what was going on. Just because the Judge had told him not to peek, didn't mean he couldn't try to work out what was happening. He frowned, his lips pursing in concentration as he heard a small shuffling, the sound of fabric ruffling, and footsteps, TWO sets of them heading for him. A moment later he felt the Judge's hands on his arms, slowly lowering them but he kept his eyes closed as he'd been ordered to.

"Ok," the Judge whispered, "Open them."

His eyes opened and his mouth dropped, his hearts stopping in his chest at the person standing in front of him.

"Hello dad," Jenny smiled at him, beamed at him more like it, her blue eyes crinkled in joy at seeing him once more.

"Jenny?" he breathed, just staring at her.

She laughed and launched herself at him, hugging him tightly as his arms moved around her, embracing her just as strongly, looking at the Judge over her shoulder as she smiled back at him. He closed his eyes a moment, taking a breath as he realized this was really happening, Jenny was right before him. Yes, he'd seen her on the video chat a few times, but she was there, she really WAS alive. With all he'd seen in his life, he'd half expected the woman he saw on the monitor to be a virtual representation of his daughter, something fake, some sort of program, but now…she really WAS there, she was in his arms, she was in the TARDIS, she was alive.

He opened his eyes and looked at the Judge, tears glistening in the corners of his eyes, 'Thank you' he mouthed to her as she nodded. He pulled back slightly and smiled as he saw Jenny, "Look at you!"

Jenny stepped back and took the sides of her dress in her hands before she spun around, "What do you think? 80s Vegas?"

He laughed, "Perfect!"

And it was, a light blue dress with thin straps, a bit too lowcut for the Doctor (or any father) to feel comfortable, but in terms of the time and place, very accurate. It was tight to just below her bust and flowed to her knees, with small dark blue sequins making a slanted pattern down one side of it. Her hair was curled only slightly, parted on the side, with white gloves on.

"You're coming with us?" Clara called, still not entirely sure what was going on.

"I invited her yes," the Judge nodded, before sighing, realizing she should probably introduce Clara and Jenny, "Jenny, this is Clara, the Doctor's companion."

"Hello," Jenny smiled at her, waving.

"Yes, and Clara," the Doctor moved beside Jenny, putting an arm around her shoulder, "This is Jenny, my daughter."

"Your daughter?" Clara's eyes widened, looking between him and the Judge.

"HIS daughter," the Judge admitted, "Bit of a mishap with a cloning device. I wasn't there."

"Oh come on mum," Jenny reached out to take the Judge's hand, the Doctor's eyes widening now as his daughter called the Judge 'mum,' "I think you've rubbed off on me enough for me to be yours too."

"Oh please tell me that doesn't mean you're all law-abiding and rule-following and sticklering…" the Doctor pouted.

"I think I've rubbed off on you as well," the Judge remarked with a small smile, she had noticed that she tended to say 'please tell me' quite a lot, to hear the Doctor say it now made her laugh.

"I'm not THAT much her daughter," Jenny reassured him, letting go of the Judge's hand to pat his arm, "Still love the running, still love the rule-breaking…just…a bit more patient," she nodded, thinking of the right words, "I try to be more objective and I try to not break the laws that are important to different species, I try to learn about them before I get involved first."

"Can't have everything I suppose," the Doctor mock-sighed, though he was really SO pleased that she had picked up those traits from the Judge, he hadn't…well, he hadn't exactly talked to the Judge about Jenny. Oh he heard loads and loads of stories from the Judge about Jenny, but he hadn't really gotten to TALK to her about how she felt about Jenny or the cloning incident or her time with his daughter, a daughter that wasn't biologically hers. It had to be difficult, but seeing the way his wife and daughter were smiling at each other, he could see they'd moved past it.

"Well come on!" Jenny urged him, disentangling herself from the Doctor's arm, "Uncle Jack won't give me his Vortex Manipulator, I can't travel in time, just space, I want to see the past."

"It's only about 30 years in the past though," Clara reminded her.

"It's still the past," Jenny grinned, "And I bet it's a different world already."

"Oh it is," the Judge nodded as the Doctor moved to the console to pilot them off, before turning to look at Jenny, "Jack really said that he wasn't going to give you his Manipulator when he retired?"

Jenny sighed and pouted, much like the Doctor did, "He said he promised YOU that he'd leave it to UNIT first."

"Why would he think I…" the Judge frowned, her question cut off by the TARDIS jolting to a landing.

"And here we are!" the Doctor spun around, shooting them a grin before hurrying towards the doors, snagging Jenny's hand on the way to pull her along as he slid his glasses onto his nose, "Viva Las Vegas!" he cheered…

"Please tell me that sound wasn't a splash of water," the Judge murmured to Clara, hearing Jenny squeal from the other side of the door, the Doctor letting out a cry as what sounded like rushing water hit them.

"I think it was," Clara hurried for the door with the Judge, hoping that they hadn't appeared at the top of a waterfall, only for wherever they were to shift suddenly, tossing the two of them out of the TARDIS and through a stream of ice cold water, into what appeared to be a command room of sorts, dark, artificial light the only source of it, with water swimming at their ankles…and a handful of men in dark uniforms standing around, gaping at them for their sudden appearance.

"Intruder on the bridge!" a young man shouted.

"Who the hell are you?" an older one, the captain judging by his decorations, demanded, half his words coming out sputtering due to the water rushing around them.

"Doctor…" the Judge gave him a hard look, half her hair dripping and stuck to the front of her face, "Please tell me we're not on a submarine that's taking on water!"

"Ok I won't," the Doctor muttered, slipping his glasses off and putting them into the pocket of his jacket, looking around, trying to get his bearings.

"Not Vegas then!" Clara shouted above the sound of running water.

"No," the Doctor sighed, "No…"

"Ooh but this is fantastic though!" Jenny absolutely beamed as she looked around.

"What, a sinking submarine?" Clara shook her head, not entirely sure how this was fantastic in the slightest.

"It's a Soviet Submarine!" Jenny nearly squealed, "I recognize this from Uncle Jack's photos of the wars! Ooh this is brilliant!" she turned and hugged the Doctor, as though this were some sort of thing he'd done on purpose.

"His daughter," the Judge grumbled, "Perhaps we ought to have Jenny travel with us a bit more Doctor!" she added, maybe then Jenny would be a little more like her each time…though then again there was always the chance that she'd end up more like the Doctor with his constant presence there, "Jenny, just to remind you, the submarine IS still sinking!"

"Break out side arms!" the same young man as before cut in, "Restrain them!" but none of the crew made a move to do so, not that they could when the craft tilted dangerously to the side, nearly throwing them all off balance.

"410," another member of the crew reported from the side of the room where he was reading off the gauges, "420! Turbines still not responding!"

"They've got to!" the captain rounded on the man.

The Doctor quickly pulled out the sonic and held it up, flicking it on but not really aiming it at anything in particular, "Ah! Sideways momentum! You've still got sideways momentum!"

"What?" the captain sputtered out water as he looked at the Doctor as though he were mad.

"Ooh!" Jenny held up her hand, grinning widely, eager to be able to relate something she knew to help her father and the situation, "The propellers for submarines like this, they're independent of the main turbines!"

"Exactly!" the Doctor cheered, pointing at Jenny as the Judge and Clara just tried to not topple over from the rushing water and the men rushing about around them, "You can't stop her going down but you can maneuver the sub laterally!" he added to the captain, "Do it!"

"Get these people off the bridge now!" the young man, most likely the second in command, tried to give the order again. But it was met with the same result.

"You really want to risk taking men away from helping you JUST to get us out of the Bridge?" the Judge shouted to him, "Or would you rather focus on something more important at the current time, like, oh I don't know, stopping the sub from sinking!" she huffed, wiping the hair from her face, flicking her hair back with a hand, sending water droplets flying into the air behind her, "Humans!" she grumbled.

"You've gotten worse mum," Jenny laughed, not seeming at all disturbed by the dangerous situation.

But, then again, why should she? Jenny had come to Torchwood, had helped out Jack and her when they'd found themselves rather low on team members and trying to start a new one. She'd helped train but, in doing so, at that time, she'd ended up in much more dire straits, much more dangerous situations than this. Torchwood seemed to deal with many more deadly enemies than UNIT and so she and Jenny had experienced many of them alongside Jack. Jenny had graciously stepped in to take Gwen's place after an incident with immortal blood. It had made Gwen realize how important family was and she'd wanted to spend that time with her daughter, in peace, raising her in as much of a normal childhood as she could. Jenny took over in helping Jack train the new recruits.

So Jenny, not just from her soldier background, had seen many, many dangers in her time and had come away just fine. And now that the Doctor, admittedly Jenny's hero even more so after tales that she and Jack had told her, was there, there was nothing to fear in Jenny's mind.

It didn't stop the Judge from worrying though. She had run an excessive amount of tests on Jenny when she'd realized who the girl was, had wanted to know exactly WHAT she was, especially after dealing with River Song and learning about what that woman was. She knew that Jenny was more than capable of handling this, that she was adept and stronger than a human…but there were still many shortcomings she'd learned about when she'd tested Jenny.

She wasn't a Time Lord, not in the sense that she was a 'full-blooded' Time Lord. But she was much more so than River was. Where River was more like a mutated human, Jenny was closer to a devolved Time Lord. She could heal faster than a human, but not as fast as a Time Lord. She was able to endure extremes slightly more, but still less than a Time Lord. She was quicker, more clever, had two hearts, but her other organs were more similar to a humans. She did have regenerative properties, regenerative energy and there wasn't a doubt in her mind that Jenny would be able to regenerate if ever the need arose (something she was hoping never ever would). But she'd also tested Jenny for the level of the regenerative energy, compared it to her own as she was nearly on a full set of regenerations, a new regeneration cycle, and she had been dismayed at what she'd found.

It appeared as though yes, Jenny could regenerate, but…only half the amount of times that a Time Lord could. 6 regenerations and that was it. She'd also noticed that Jenny DID age, very, very impossibly slowly though, compared to humans. She seemed to have a Time Lord's longevity, but not their immortality. She would have a very, very long life ahead of her, she would regenerate if death got too close to her, but her life would eventually end, whether from old age or lack of regenerations or both. But it was enough to know that she WOULD live a full and long life, that she had the protection in the form of regenerations and that she would be around for a good long while. She couldn't bear to have to tell the Doctor that his daughter would go out like a human so quickly.

"Just listen to them, for God's sake!" Clara cried as the sub groaned, pulling the Judge's thoughts back to the present.

"Geographical anomaly to starboard," the Doctor read off the sonic.

"An underwater ridge?" Jenny guessed and the Doctor tapped his nose.

"How do you know this?" the captain eyed them suspiciously.

"Look, we have just a chance to stop the descent if we settle on it," the Doctor cut in, actually feeling a tinge of irritation with the humans, while also aware that it wasn't entirely something drifting over to him from the Judge, "Do it!"

"600 meters, sir!" one of the crewmen shouted, "610..."

"Or this thing is going to implode!" the Doctor gave the captain a harsh look, daring him to allow the sub to continue its descent.

"Lateral thrust to starboard," the captain gave the order after only another moment staring down the Doctor, though Jenny had also adapted a firm look and regarded the captain with it, "All propellers!" but the crew hesitated to follow the order, glancing between each other, not sure what to do, "Now!"

"You're going to let this madman give the orders?" the second glared at the captain, looking at the man as though contemplating whether or not he should organize a mutiny to take control of the vessel.

But the captain ignored the remark, spinning around to face his crew, "Lateral thrust!"

"Aye, sir!" the men cried, rushing to do just that as the Doctor kept tabs on them with the sonic.

"660..." came the report as the crew hurried to get the sub in the right place, "680..." and, moments later, the descent was halted, the craft stilling, "Descent arrested at...700 meters."

Jenny let out a cheer and turned, hugging the Doctor tightly, Clara and the Judge letting out a breath of relief though the Judge was also shaking her head with a fond smile at the Doctor and Jenny, both were beaming in excitement. They were really far, FAR too similar for the earth to ever be safe.

"It seems we owe you our lives," the captain begrudgingly offered to the Doctor as he let go of Jenny but kept her close with a paternal arm around her shoulders, "Whoever you are."

"Oh, I'm Jenny," Jenny smiled at them, "And this is my father, the Doctor, and my mother, the Judge, and their friend Clara," she introduced, oblivious to how the men were now looking back and forth between the Doctor and Judge and Jenny, trying to work out how they could possibly be her parents when they looked about a year or two older than her.

However, one of the crew wasn't quite as flummoxed as the others, the second, who promptly gave the order, "Search them!" only to be met with the concerned and hesitant eyes of his men, "Yes, I know, three of them are women," he rolled his eyes, "Now search them!"

The crew suddenly surged towards the small group of four, the Doctor reaching out to tug Jenny behind him, giving her a firm look in a silent order not to attack the other soldiers as they were only following their orders and were only going to search them for the moment. He let go of her arm as they were all backed towards a pole in the middle of the room, the four of them pushed against it like a square.

"Are we going to be ok?" Clara asked them quietly.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor tried to reassure her.

"Is that a lie?"

"Always is with him," the Judge sighed, tensing slightly as the men tried to pat her down but seemed to realize she had no pockets and, as such, backed away, making her let out a breath of relief, her hands absently straightening out the skirt that was sticking to her. She silently thanked the stars that she had chosen that color dress instead of a white and gray plaid dress she'd spotted in the wardrobe, she felt badly for Clara, whose dress was white, but it was a rather grayish, silver white and she should be fine.

"Have you not read up on the events of the 80s Clara?" Jenny's voice called, her being right behind Clara where the Doctor and Judge were across from each other.

Clara rolled her eyes at that, seeing now how the Judge had rubbed off on the girl, she'd noticed that the Judge was a bit…condescending, scolding, and short with humans. She actually seemed to be a bit more like that with HER especially, she didn't know why. Shouldn't the fact that she was the Doctor's companion be enough to mean she was just slightly more special than other humans? Just enough for the Judge to lay off on her a bit? She didn't like it, it irritated her when the Judge would make little snide remarks that sounded a bit to specific to her than the generalizing of humans, but she held her tongue. She was still a new companion, she wasn't the Doctor's wife, and if she blew up at the Time Lady there was every chance that she'd be kicked out of the TARDIS for it. So she bit her lip and kept her words to herself. But she would only do that for now, she had no doubt that the day would come where she'd snap back at the woman, but, hopefully, that day would be when she was ready to leave the TARDIS or would, perhaps, never come because the Judge would warm up to her. Whichever came first, though she hoped it was the latter.

"It's the Cold War," Jenny continued, "Both sides ready to fight but not really wanting to, makes for a lot of tension."

"Oi!" the Doctor squirmed, pouting when his pockets were emptied of its blonde Barbie doll, a ball of twine, and his sonic. He didn't much care for the first two, but the last object was rather precious, "I'd like a receipt, please," he glared at the man before him and tried to snatch the sonic back, but the captain had already taken it.

"What is this?" the man eyed the small metal wand.

Before the Doctor or Judge could make a remark, the sub pitched dangerously to the side, sending Clara falling forwards.

"Clara!" the Doctor turned, scrambling to try and grab Clara before she fell, but behind them the wheezing of the TARDIS sounded, the box starting to fade out of existence as it left without them.

The Judge and Jenny ran for the TARDIS as the Doctor turned to try and grab Clara, only for the girl to trip, falling beneath the water as she hit her head, and that was the last thing she saw, the box disappearing as the Doctor reached for her, before it all went black.

~8~

"Clara?" Jenny's voice softly as Clara slowly woke from her brief bout of unconsciousness.

Clara looked over to see Jenny crouched beside her in what appeared to be a hall of the sub, the Doctor's purple coat around her and contrasting rather badly with the blue of her dress. She looked down to see that one of the soldiers had given HER a coat as well, likely none of the men comfortable with women in dresses such as theirs being as wet as they were. But a quick glance at the Judge countered that as the woman was standing there without a jacket on, her hands on her hips, beside the Doctor, seeming to be arguing with the captain about something.

She winced and put a hand to her head, "What happened?"

"You fell," Jenny told her, helping her stand, "Got knocked out a bit. You ok?"

Clara nodded, "What happened to the TARDIS though?"

"Sort of ran off," Jenny shrugged, tugging the coat a little closer to herself, Clara subconsciously mimicking the same and realizing that it was because of the chill of the water and not the dress that they'd been given coats for, "She'll be back eventually."

"I doubt it," Clara sighed, only for Jenny to give her a curious look, "According to the Judge, the TARDIS doesn't like me much. Seems to think I'm a threat."

"Don't take it personally," Jenny shrugged it off, "The TARDIS thinks women in general are a threat, especially after the last few that dad's had onboard."

"Last few?" Clara frowned.

"Amy Pond, River Song…" she shook her head though she was smiling, "Rose Tyler really started it off though…Martha didn't really help much, LOVED Donna though…and you have no idea who I'm talking about do you?"

"Not a clue."

"Captain!" the Doctor's sharp voice cut into what Jenny was about to say, the man sounding rather irritated at the moment, "We _didn't_ know the type of your ship out here!"

"Yeah, well, that's till the rescue ship comes," the captain glared.

"That's IF it comes," the Judge muttered.

"Oh, the sinking is just a coincidence, is it?" the captain snapped, turning his narrow eyes on the Judge, no longer caring that she was a woman, "Who _are_ you?"

"I do believe Jenny gave the introductions already," the Judge remarked dryly, "Or did you have water in your ears?"

"Alright, Captain, alright," the Doctor sighed, putting a hand on the Judge's shoulder to tell her to calm down slightly.

He knew she was irate about this entire situation, had gotten even more so when Clara had been knocked unconscious. It was…odd, her reactions to Clara. It was like she wasn't entirely happy Clara was there, he'd noticed her making more remarks to Clara for questions and other things than she did for most humans, but at the same time she had been incredibly worried about the girl when she'd fallen under the water, had been the one to get her out of it and make sure she was ok. She had been the one to demand one of the jackets from the crew for Clara, concerned the girl would be freezing when she woke up, but just like that, it was as though she realized what she was doing and had assigned Jenny to sit with the girl as well and moved to HIS side. He couldn't really work out why she was so back and forth when it came to Clara, seeming to be a little more annoyed that she was there, but not wanting her to actually leave.

He knew he'd have to have a talk with her about that eventually, sooner than later likely, but right now they had more pressing matters to see to, like the submarine they were about to sink in.

"You know what?" he sighed, "Just this once, no dissembling, no psychic paper, no pretending to be an Earth ambassador."

"Oh no…" the Judge shook her head and turned to him, "Please tell me you're not going to tell them…"

"Me, Judge, Jenny, Clara, we're time travelers," the Doctor stated.

"And you did," she sighed, biting the inside of her cheek and looking at the men cautiously, her hands that were on her hips starting to rub the side of her dress with her nerves.

This was a bad situation, bad, bad, bad, always was when he told people the truth. They hardly ever believed time travelers, just like the people Torchwood dealt with had to be told lies at times, not wanting to believe aliens were there despite the fact that there was ample evidence of it now. Humans were always so quick to dismiss what they didn't believe, and now, in this time period especially, he had gone and told a group of men, men who likely had guns, that they were time travelers. They'd be more likely to lock the four of them away than believe them. That was probably the worst thing the Doctor could have told them.

"Time travelers?" the captain scoffed.

"We arrived here out of thin air!" the Doctor argued, cutting off what was sure to have been a small laugh from the captain had he not spoken, "You saw it happen!"

"_I_ didn't," an older man from the back of the group of the crew that stood before them called.

"Your problem, mate, not mine!"

"And who, exactly, are you?" the Judge leaned to the side to see the man better, more doing it to try an diffuse the situation than out of genuine curiosity, anything that could take the attention off of the Doctor for even a moment or two.

"I'm the professor," the man stated.

"The scientific expert?" the Judge guessed and he nodded, "Specifying in what?"

"What has this got to do with anything?!" the captain seemed near ready to stomp his foot.

"Captain," the Doctor gave the man a firm look, "Breath's precious down here. Let's not waste it, eh?"

The captain glowered for a moment before he nodded, "You're right, maybe I can save a little oxygen by having you four shot?!"

"And then you'd end up exerting yourselves with cleaning up the mess," the Judge countered, "And you'd waste even more air."

"It's a chance I am willing to take," the captain glared.

"Oi!" Jenny huffed, moving to stand beside the Judge, "Why do you even care how we got here? The point is that we can help you get the sub fixed and back to the surface!"

"Exactly!" the Doctor cheered, internally laughing at how the Judge and Jenny had both crossed their arms at the same time, not even seeming to realize they'd done so, both women fixing the captain with a frown, "Number one priority, not suffocating!" he turned to the captain and patted his arm, only for the man to back away, "Ah, oh, thank you! Finally, seeing sense! Now, what sort of state is the sub in?"

The Judge tensed, feeling something hit the back of her neck, like a breath of some sort. She looked over at Jenny out of the corner of her eye to see the girl had tensed as well and was turning to look over her shoulder, her eyes widening as she clearly saw something standing there.

"Doctor…" Clara breathed, backing up towards the crew, her gaze over their shoulders, her finger starting to point behind them.

"Jenny," the Judge began out of the corner of her mouth, "Please tell me…"

"Can't," Jenny murmured, knowing that the Judge was likely about to ask for confirmation that there was nothing behind her. The only relief she could give the woman was that she wasn't backing away just…looking with more of an assessing frown, her eyes roving over something.

"What about the radio?" the Doctor continued, "Can we send a..."

"Doctor!" Clara snapped.

"What?" he frowned, finally falling quiet enough to hear a sort of hissing sound behind them, "What is that? Gas? Could be gas!"

"It's never gas," the Judge murmured to him.

He frowned at that and took her hand, slowly turning with her to see that it wasn't gas at all but a creature. It was a large creature in thick and heavy metal armor, not at all human in design, though that was obvious by the mouth of the creature. Its helmet was cut just above the mouth and they could see green reptilian skin, its eyes glowing more than a human's would as well. It was huffing and panting and growling at them, its body tense and ready to spring into action.

"Ah," the Doctor breathed, "It never rains but it pours."

"Dad…" Jenny began, stepping back only slightly as the Doctor and Judge had stepped back as well, "What is it?"

"What I want to know is how it's here," the Judge shook her head, knowing exactly what it was.

"We were drilling for oil in the ice," the professor offered, "I thought I'd found a mammoth."

"What part of metal armor and green, reptilian skin screamed wooly mammoth to you?" the Judge grumbled, "That's like calling a poodle a Monitor Lizard!"

"Yeah, but dad what IS it?" Jenny moved behind the Judge to stand between her parents, staring at the creature before them.

"This…is an Ice Warrior, Jenny," the Doctor stated.

Jenny's eyes widened at that, "An Ice Warrior? Like the ones from Mars!?"

The Judge blinked and turned to her, "How did you know that?" she was sure she'd never mentioned Ice Warriors around her at Torchwood, and there wasn't much talk of them any longer as they were thought to be extinct or to have buried themselves far enough into Mars that they wouldn't be seen again, much like the Silurians.

"I met this professor," Jenny shrugged, "She was giving a lecture about finding patterns in history and I think she was talking about dad cos it was an alien university. We started to talk more and she showed me her Vortex Manipulator. She was a time traveler too! She knew you dad," she looked at her father, "Told me all sorts of stories she'd picked up through time about you. Ice Warriors were one."

"…Professor River Song?" the Doctor guessed.

"So you DO know her," Jenny smiled, "Oh she's got a lot of stories about you dad."

"And I doubt a handful of them I actually HAD with her," the Doctor sighed, rubbing his face.

"Which ones DID you have with her then?" Jenny asked innocently, "She seemed like she knew you really well…"

"Not really the time or place," the Judge cut in gently, nodding back to the Ice Warrior, "We should, perhaps, deal with the Martian warrior first."

"A Martian?" the captain scoffed behind them, and if he hadn't thought they were mad before with all their talk about time travel, he certainly did now, "You can't be serious."

"I'm always serious," the Doctor defended, "With days off."

"Days that end in y dear?" the Judge asked.

"Exactly!" the Doctor grinned, "Though, to be fair, that's only on Earth. On other planets, it's more like saying…"

"Doctor!" Clara cut in, "Could you focus please!"

"I'm just keeping it light, Clara," the Doctor defended, "They're scared."

"They're scared? _I'm _scared!"

"What are you doing!?" Jenny gasped as one of the officers pushed Clara aside and stepped up with a gun in his hand, prompting her to quickly push the gun down, "You can't be the first to attack otherwise you're a hostile threat!"

"Yes!" the Doctor nodded, pointing at Jenny a moment before spinning around to face the crew, "There's no need for that. And you," he spun once more to face the Ice Warrior, "Just hear me out, you're confused, disoriented, of course you are. You've been lying dormant in the ice for, for how long?" he snapped his fingers and pointed back in the general direction of the crew, who all seemed confused as to what he wanted, "How long, Professor?"

"By my reckoning, 5,000 years," the man answered.

"5,000 years?" even the Doctor's eyes widened at that, the Judge starting to shift and rub her sides at that bit of information.

Ice Warriors, from what she knew of them, operated similarly to Silurians, in gene-chains, and they were very protective of their gene-chains, they had to be especially in an environment like Mars. To be out of contact with family for 5,000 years? To wake up and find that your family were now long since gone and likely buried, perhaps that the gene-chain had ended, that would be torment. She couldn't even imagine waking up from a sound sleep, from the middle of a thriving civilization, and find that it was all just…gone. She'd experienced similar, with the Time Lords, they were there one moment and gone the next, but she had been conscious and aware when it happened, if she'd just gone to sleep and woken up thousands of years later to nothing…it would be alarming and disturbing and horrible. And she knew, she'd be desperate to prove it wrong, to find someone, to find out for herself what happened to her people.

And desperation often made monsters of the greatest men, the stars only knew what it would do to an Ice Warrior.

"That's a hell of a nap," the Doctor continued, "Can't blame you if you've got out of the wrong side of bed."

"Please remain calm," Jenny tried to help, being more of a soldier than the others there, and not letting go of the gun that the one soldier had lifted, "You will not be harmed while you are here, so long as you harm none in return."

"So," the Doctor clapped his hands, "Why don't you tell us your name?"

"What're you talking about?" the captain frowned, "It has a name?"

"Do YOU have a name?" the Judge gave him a look over her shoulder, "Even animals that can't talk have names. Stars have names, trees have names, rocks have names, I would think it would be obvious that HE would have a name as well."

"And a rank," the Doctor nodded, "This is a soldier. And it deserves our respect."

"This is madness!" the captain grumbled, "That is a monster!"

"Skaldak," came the growling response from the Ice Warrior himself.

The Doctor grinned at that, pointing at the Martian as though that were proof and shooting his grin at the crew…

"Doctor…" the Judge tensed at that, "_Skaldak?_"

He looked at her for the emphasis on his name, not sure why she was suddenly so tense, not sure why the name meant that much…when it hit him, which was understandable, he had a lot going on in his big brain, but now he remembered, he knew exactly who Skaldak was.

"Skaldak?" he repeated to the Ice Warrior.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Jenny started to frown, her excitement at meeting an Ice Warrior in the flesh starting to fade into concern at how her parents were reacting.

But the Doctor just held up a finger to Jenny, still focused on the Ice Warrior, "You're Skaldak?"

"I am Grand Marshal Skaldak," the Ice Warrior repeated.

"Oh, no," the Doctor breathed, closing his eyes, only for them to fly open when Skaldak gave a growl and a groan, his entire body starting to shake, before he promptly collapsed, face first, into the hall, revealing the second in command behind him with what appeared to be a cattle prod in his hand.

"You stupid ape!" the Judge hissed, stomping forward and grabbing the prod out of his hand, "Have you any idea what you've done?!"

"You idiot!" even the Doctor was agreeing with her abuse of the humans this time, though he couldn't fault her for calling the man a 'stupid ape' when he had used the exact same phrase, likely something Jack had told her about, because this was…this was sheer stupidity, "Grand Marshal Skaldak…" he looked down at the fallen warrior.

"You...know him?" Clara shook her head, utterly confused about this entire situation.

"Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste, vanquisher of the Phobos heresy," the Doctor rubbed his head, "The greatest hero the proud Martian race has ever produced."

"Wow," Jenny breathed, her eyes wide once more.

"So what do we do now?" Clara frowned, not sure why, if the man was so great, the Doctor seemed so disturbed, why the Judge was rubbing her one hand on her skirt as though she were going to rub a hole in it with nerves.

"Lock him up!" the Doctor ordered, giving the captain a firm look, a warning look, to do as he said and do it quickly.

Because while Skaldak was a hero of Mars…that didn't mean he was a hero to others. He truly was one of the fiercest warriors ever…and now he had been attacked.

Retaliation would be imminent.

~8~

The Time Lords, Jenny, and Clara were standing before the captain in a communications room of the sub, his second in command and the professor with him as well while the crew went about trying to secure Skaldak in the torpedo room and try to repair the sub as best they could from the inside. Jenny had her arms crossed with a small pout on her face, she'd wanted to go with the crew to chain Skaldak up, just wanting to be around a warrior like Skaldak a little longer, get a closer look at its armor, but the Doctor had promptly denied that request, very much being a father at the moment.

"You really have no idea what you've done," the Judge shook her head at the captain, "You cannot apply human reasoning and credos to those of the Martians. They have their own codes and laws just like you do, just like each of your countries do on Earth."

"To the Ice Warriors, Skaldak is a hero," the Doctor nodded, "It was said his enemies honored him so much they'd carve his name into their own flesh before they died."

"Oh, yeah, very nice," Clara grimaced, "He sounds lovely."

"I hope my enemies fear me that much one day," Jenny breathed, sounding almost awed by that level of 'honor' and fear.

"Let's hope that never happens," the Doctor shook his head at that.

"An Ice Warrior?" the captain repeated, "Explain."

"There isn't time!"

"Try me."

"You'd better have," the Judge sighed, "Humans are annoyingly persistent, he won't stop asking or help you till you tell him."

The Doctor frowned, but quickly explained, "Martian reptile known as the Ice Warrior. When Mars turned cold they had to adapt. They're bio-mechanoid cyborgs. Built survival armor so they could exist in the freezing cold of their home world, but an increase in temperature and the armor goes haywire."

"So if we ever face one we should arm ourselves with something like the cattle prod?" Jenny assessed, her mind storing the information away for the future, should she ever encounter one of the near-extinct Ice Warriors herself she'd best be prepared.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "Bit of a design flaw, I've always wondered why they never sorted it…"

"Is he that dangerous?" Clara cut in, trying to keep them on track.

"What part of his enemies would carve his name into themselves before they died comes across as NOT being that dangerous?" the Judge gave Clara a look as though it should be VERY obvious just how dangerous the Warrior was, "The DOCTOR had him tied up, Clara, what does that say about his level of threat?"

Clara pursed her lips at that and gave the Judge a look for that. For all she knew, the Doctor could have had the creature chained up to keep the crew from hurting it, or thinking it was a threat.

The Doctor opened his mouth to defend Clara's question when his attention was caught by a small beeping noise that was coming from the headphones around the professor's neck, the man sitting against the wall with a small walkman in his hands. The noise was clearly not normal as the man was glancing at his walkman and fiddling with it and checking his headphones for some sort of glitch that was making it do that.

"Why are we listening to this nonsense, Captain?" the second turned to the captain, tugging him off to the side to try and speak to him privately though he was rather loud about it and they could still hear him from where they were, "These people are clearly enemy agents. Spies, captain!"

"Pretty bad spies, mate," Clara laughed at that, leaning forward as though she could join their conversation even from across the small room, "I don't even speak Russian!"

"What?" the second frowned, seeming confused by that statement more so than the Doctor trying to quiet Clara down from making it.

"Um, Clara, you sort of ARE speaking Russian," Jenny whispered to her.

It wasn't noticeable, not really, no one would have heard it. She shouldn't even be aware that the girl was speaking another language, it should sound like English to her, she knew all about the TARDIS translation circuits and everything. It was supposed to make the Russians sound English and the English sound Russian to the others, it should be entirely unnoticeable to her. But she COULD hear it, slightly, like a faint twinge in Clara's accent, the smallest change in the inflection of her words that told her that something was affecting how Clara spoke.

It was different with the Time Lords though, they actually WERE speaking Russian to the Russians. It was like a little joke, according to the Judge when they discussed it once in Torchwood, that the Doctor would speak the language he found himself in, knowing that it would come across as English to his companions and the proper language to the others. The only language that the TARDIS didn't translate at all off-world, was Gallifreyan, because that was sacred to the Time Lords and only meant to be understood by them and used on their planet. The Doctor and Judge cheated at times, used it as a secret language of sorts when others couldn't understand them, but they chose to speak English to the humans.

"How come I'm speaking Russian?" Clara blinked at that.

"Now?" the Doctor gaped at her, "We have to do this now?"

"Are they speaking Russian?"

"Seriously?"

"Annoying human persistence Doctor," the Judge sighed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, starting to see that, "It's the TARDIS translation matrix."

"Are they?" Clara asked as the second turned to the captain, the two men speaking a bit more quietly than before.

"Yes! They're Russians!"

"The translation matrix makes everything, words and speech, look and sound English to you," the Judge said quickly, sounding almost like the Doctor in how fast she was speaking, "And makes everything look and sound like the proper language to anyone else around you."

"Oh," Clara nodded, "Ok then."

"For God's sake, Stepashin!" the captain suddenly snapped, making them all look over at the man who seemed rather irate with his young second, "You're like a stuck record! We have other priorities right now. I want you back on repairs immediately, we need to keep this ship alive. Dismissed."

The second, Stepashin frowned, "Sir..."

"Dismissed, Stepashin!"

Stepashin glared at the captain, stepping away and making for the door, pausing only to give the aliens a harsh look.

"We've stared down the eyestalk of a Dalek," the Judge spoke, "Your little glares don't scare us, Stepashin, carry on."

The man rolled his eyes, sneering at her slightly before he pushed past them and left the room.

The Doctor shook his head at the man's reaction and turned to the captain, hoping that, now without Stepashin whispering in the man's ear about how they should be locked up, the man would listen, "All we needed to do was let Skaldak go and he'd have forgotten us."

"But instead one of your men attacked him," Jenny frowned, understanding that the severity of it was starting to rise, "And because he's one of YOUR men, Skaldak will take it as an act that YOU committed as well. He'll take it as a declaration of war, won't he?" she looked at the Doctor and Judge.

"The Martians believe in unity, like all for one, one for all," the Judge nodded, "'Harm one of us and you harm us all,' is how they phrase it," she recalled from her research into some of the laws of the other notable species, "And that is an _ancient_ code. Skaldak will declare martial law now," she added to the captain, before grumbling, "HATE martial law."

The Doctor absently reached out and put his arm around her shoulder, tugging her closer to him, knowing where her thoughts were going at the idea of martial law. Gallifrey had fallen under it during the war, and he knew that the Judge in particular was very against the idea of it. To her it was the ultimate symbol for the stripping of rights, it was the governments saying that the laws could be ignored just so that THEY could do as they pleased. And what the government of Gallifrey did hadn't helped anyone. There was always a notion that martial law was implemented to help WIN a war, but Gallifrey had been lost even with martial law in place.

She hated it because it essentially said that all was fair and no consequences came from it. And now Skaldak was going to follow the same principle, he was going to launch an attack, of that they were certain, the second he managed to get free he would attack and no one would be safe, there would be no reasoning with him at all, not till the 'war' was won…and Skaldak, if the legends held true, never lost.

Jenny frowned, looking over at the professor as he stepped closer, holding up his headphones, hearing the beeping noise and moving over to him. She took the headphones from him, pressing one to her ear to listen before she spun to her parents, "Is this a signal?" she asked them.

"A distress call," the Doctor nodded.

"He wants reinforcements," the Judge rubbed her legs, "It means he's planning an attack, he wants retaliation for your attack on him."

"So how do we stop him?" Clara asked.

"Negotiations?" the Judge shrugged.

"What, _you_ want to talk to it?" the captain frowned, not sure if he should trust them to speak to the hostage.

"The Judge and I," the Doctor nodded, "We're the only ones who can."

"No. Out of the question. We're not losing you. I'll do it."

"You?" the Judge scoffed, "YOU were the reason he was attacked! He won't listen to you."

"You're the enemy soldier," the Doctor agreed.

"How would he know that?" the captain countered.

"A soldier knows another soldier. He'll smell it on you! Smell it on you a mile off."

"And he wouldn't smell it on either of you?" the man gestured between the Doctor and Judge.

"Well WE didn't attack him, did we?" the Judge reminded the man, "WE aren't wearing the uniforms of those who did."

"But he knows that YOU had him tied up," the captain caught them there.

"Look, just let us in there before it's too late," the Doctor huffed, "It can't be you or any of your men."

"Well, it can't be you either," the man held firm.

"What about me?" Jenny asked.

"What?" the Doctor rounded on her.

"You said it can't be any of the soldiers," Jenny reasoned, a small smile on her face like a child that had a foolproof plan to get their parents to do what they wanted, "It can't be Clara either cos he saw her wearing their uniform," she added when Clara opened her mouth to offer that SHE go instead because it was a little startling how similar Jenny was to the Time Lords and the soldiers on the sub, it was clear she had some sort of soldier background, "And it can't be you two because he knows you had him locked up," she smiled, "But ME," and the smile grew, "He saw me try to stop the soldiers shooting him. He'll trust me."

"You're as much a soldier as I am," the Doctor shook his head.

"Maybe I'm an 'ally' soldier then," Jenny shrugged, "He knows I didn't want him hurt, he knows I'm not one of them…and yea, I AM a soldier, so that means I CAN negotiate," she pointed out.

But the Doctor just continued to frantically shake his head, "No! No! No way. You're not going in there. Absolutely not! No, no. Never! Not my daughter."

~8~

Jenny slowly entered the torpedo room, a small smug smirk on her face as she tried to refrain from giggling at the prospect of actually negotiating and facing down an enemy both her parents had encountered in the past, or at least heard about in the past. She wanted to prove herself, show her father that he didn't have to worry about her while she was off on her own adventures. She was a soldier, she could take care of herself, but she was also his daughter, she was clever and she could do it. She wanted to just…make them proud of her, be able to help them on this adventure and she couldn't wait to actually do it. Oh, she was aware that Skaldak might not be willing to negotiate or talk, there was a real possibility that he could escape and, if he did, it was best that SHE was in there and not the others, not Clara. While she didn't share her mother's apprehension with the humans, she did understand they were more frail than Time Lords were, she'd learned that with Torchwood, SHE had been born a soldier and she could defend herself if necessary, fight back, had no qualms with guns if it came to it. But her parents had issues with guns, and Clara wasn't a soldier. It really was best that it was HER there.

She paused in shutting the torpedo hatch to look up at a camera that she knew her parents would be watching her from. She had refused to use a headset that the professor had offered her to communicate. If she was going to try and gain Skaldak's trust, then it had to be done with just her voice in her ear and not the Doctor's. He wouldn't trust her if he thought she was just a puppet that couldn't think for herself. She had to prove herself to Skaldak as well to gain his respect enough to negotiate as well.

She looked down, crouching down a moment to pick up a small lamp and turn it on, placing it before her but leaving her hands free and the room a little more illuminated, giving her a view of the Ice Warrior chained to a torpedo before her, the armor still there.

"Grand Marshal Skaldak," she greeted the creature, "Sovereign of the Tharsisian caste, by the moons, I honor thee," she pressed her right fist to her chest in a salute the Doctor had taught her to help gain Skaldak's appreciation, "I wish to apologize for the treatment against you. This is not something that a great war hero like yourself deserves," she glanced up when the lights flickered and went out, leaving her more in the darkness and just the lamp to give light, and focused back on Skaldak, not willing to show even an inch of apprehension about it, "You have found yourself on another planet with millennia difference between the time you recall and now. I ask you, allow us to help you return to your home, to your people. Please," she added after a moment, "We are not the enemy."

"And yet, I am in chains," Skaldak hissed.

"It's a preventative measure," Jenny reasoned, "Surely you can see the practicality in that. A threat to the many is not meant to be taken lightly. You and your people would surely do the same and have in the past. If you can prove that we can trust you, trust each other, then you'll be released. Simple as that."

"I was fleet commander of the Nix Tharsis," the creature growled, as though he were insulted to be in this position, but then he continued, adding more to it that made Jenny pause and frown at what he revealed next, "My daughter stood by me. It was her first taste of action. We sang the songs of the old times. The songs of the red snow. 5,000 years, now my daughter will be...dust! Only dust."

Jenny let out a soft breath at that, she could understand that, she had been…aware, when she'd 'died' on Messaline. She'd been able to hear what everyone was saying around her, she'd heard the grief in her father's voice, his crying, how silent he'd gone, the concern that the others held when they spoke to him. She couldn't imagine what it was like for Skaldak to wake up from a sleep and find his daughter and most of his descendents were likely dead, to not know how they fell, to not know and not have been there to protect her.

"Your daughter may be dust but your people, your family, they still live on," she tried to be delicate, "Her daughters and their daughters may yet live. There are reports of the Ice Warriors all across the Universe," she added, recalling what her father had mentioned of them and some encounters he'd had with them, "Mars is your home and it WILL rise again," she promised him, though she felt a lump in her throat knowing she couldn't promise the same to the Time Lords, Gallifrey was gone, and they were alone, "All you need to do is let us help you. Trust us enough to get you home, Skaldak."

"I require no help!" the creature snarled, "There will be no help!"

Jenny frowned a moment, the light catching something on his armor…the fact that it hadn't moved at all, and started to step forward, feeling like something was very, very wrong about this situation. She reached out cautiously, and touched Skaldak's helmet, the armor part falling backwards, the rest of it falling open, to reveal that the armor was entirely empty, Skaldak was gone!

"It is time I learned the measure of my enemies," Skaldak roared from above her, "And what this vessel is capable of! Harm one of us and you harm us all! By the moons, this I swear!"

Jenny stood firm, her eyes narrow as she looked above her, pulling out a small torch that the Judge had insisted she bring, and flashing it around the pipes, trying to find Skaldak, tensing in preparation for a fight. Without its armor, it HAD to be more vulnerable.

She spun around, hearing a crash behind her, to see the small camera that she knew her parents had been watching through, fall to the ground, torn apart by Skaldak.

She stiffened moments later when she felt a familiar breath on the back of her neck from someone standing right behind her as Skaldak growled in her ear…

A/N: Apologies for yesterday :( I missed my alarm and nearly was late for work, and then got a double shift handed to me :( This morning when I went to update I'd seen that I had a few messages about a possible plagiarism and I wanted to hold off updating till I could check it out, incase I needed to add a request to help report it here. But thankfully it doesn't appear to be plagiarism but I am still very grateful for the concern of the readers and your support when it comes to things like that :') It really means a lot to me to know that you all are looking out for me and my stories. I'm so relieved though that this isn't the 14th case of plagiarism :)

I bet the Doctor (and Judge) won't be very happy that Jenny did that now lol :) We're starting to see a little more of Clara being aggravated with the Judge's comments lol, I can say she and the Judge will have words about it very soon though ;)

Happy belated Talk-Like-A-Pirate Day though!

Some notes on reviews...

We'll find out in Journey to the Center of the TARDIS what Jack's text was about ;) But I can say it has a hand in the Judge's conflicting feelings about Clara }:)

Thanks :) I've got a few stories written, and about 15 more in various stages of completion lol :) I was asked about fictionpress a few times, but I don't think I could ever make one. Just because, if my fanfiction gets plagiarized, I don't want my original work to be plagiarized too. It would break my heart to walk through a book store and see my book published and realize someone stole it :( Not that I think it would ever happen, but I didn't think my fanfiction was that good that people wanted to plagiarise that either :/ I think, for me, I'm just a little paranoid about it lol :) I'm glad you liked the picture :) You're actually partially right about blonde hair though. When I was a baby my hair was black and faded to brown, but there was a brief few months in between where it was blonde lol :) I have no idea how it happened though :) And thank you, I'm really very plain though, my sister is the pretty one ;)

I can say we'll get a bit of gossip in WWTW Part 2 (or whatever it's official title will be) lol :) We'll get Proffy, Evy, and Angel semi-gossipping about their 11s :) Clara will get more and more annoyed with the Judge's comments, yup, and it will come out in an argument very soon ;) Ooh the Cybermen was my favorite to write for the main series of series 7, especially because of the whole 'Don't blow up the planet!' thing, just imagining the Judge in that episode was a joy :)

I think they'd understand that earth marriage is as sacred to the humans as it is to the Time Lords, though I think they'd see it as a tiny bit less sacred in the sense that divorce occurs so often and doesn't really happen much on Gallifrey. But they do understand that it's important to the humans in their sense and respect it. They probably think the idea of being married is a little less to humans than to Time Lords since Time Lords, in this story, aren't considered officially married till their first child is born and all :) I cannot wait for 12 and the Judge! Poor, poor Clara, she has a migraine many many times dealing with them ;)

I like Danny Pink so far, I'm not quite sure how I feel about him and Clara only because I feel like spending an entire episode about how they're 'supposed to be together' makes me feel like they're forcing the relationship on us instead of just letting it naturally develop, but that's just me :) I can say that Proffy will get along with him well, both having similar backgrounds of soldier/teacher, Evy will be a bit wary of him only because he will have a small crush on Clara and she knows her son is with Clara, Angel will love him and just want to help him deal with his bad memories, Mac will really fret over him and semi-smother him (but she does that to everyone lol), and the Judge well...I haven't seen enough of him to know how the Judge would react, it'll depend how he does if he ever travels in the TARDIS on an adventure ;)


	18. Cold War - Part 2

Cold War - Part 2

The Doctor and Judge were running at breakneck speed down the halls of the sub, racing towards the torpedo room. Skaldak had gotten out of his armor, not only that but the fact that he was OUT of his armor was an enormous red flag to them. Neither of them could recall mention of a time where the Ice Warriors did that without a shred of desperation in them. Skaldak had now reached that point, the point where there was no going back, where he had nothing to live for any longer and would seek out his mission. And Jenny was stuck in the middle of it. They could only hope that Clara had managed to get the torpedo door open for Jenny.

They had both argued against Jenny going there completely alone, but Jenny had also made a point that if any of the actual crew, or the Doctor and Judge were outside, if he was really as skilled a warrior as they claimed, Skaldak would know about it and be more threatened. Clara had been the only non-threatening presence they could see being nearby without being involved. They had agreed, begrudgingly, to put Clara in charge of the doors, to make sure that, if anything happened, she would get that door open so Jenny could get out.

The Doctor winced as they neared the door to see Clara frantically trying to turn the wheel on the outside of it, already knowing that this would be another 'strike' against her in the Judge's book. He knew that Jenny wasn't biologically the Judge's, but he saw how close they were, he could see that the bond of mother and daughter was there already, through Jenny's tie to him and the Judge's tie to him, through the time that Jenny had spent in Torchwood. The Judge saw Jenny as her own daughter even if she didn't say it out loud and now Jenny was in danger and Clara was failing in the ONLY task they had given her. It would not lessen the Judge's displeasure with humans that Clara, a human, was lacking in saving her daughter. He would just have to remind her that THEY were the ones that had agreed that Clara, even as a human, could go there with Jenny, that it was on THEM if Clara failed.

But he hoped it wouldn't come to that, "Move!" he shouted to Clara as they got nearer, the girl gasping and jumping back, not having heard them approach.

"Jenny!" the Judge called through the walls as he strained to turn the wheel, "Jenny!"

"I'm here!" was Jenny's muffled reply, but it was enough to both make them heave in relief and work faster to open the door. She was there and fine for NOW but they would not let her spend another moment with Skaldak if they could help it.

"Yes!" the Doctor cheered as he managed to get the door opened, the three of them looking in quickly when they heard a slamming noise, the Time Lords wearing slightly proud smiles on their faces, Clara with her eyes wide, to see a green blur hit the side wall with a crunching noise before the same blur shot out at them, pushing them back and moving past them.

They knew it was Skaldak, that the green, reptilian creature had just gotten away and that they should focus on the ship and stopping him, but right now their main concern was to ensure that their daughter was alright.

"Jenny?" the Judge hurried into the room as Jenny turned, hugging her tightly, Jenny returning the embrace with only one arm though.

"I'm ok," Jenny stepped back, a sad smile on her face and held up a rather large spanner, "Negotiations turned a bit hostile. Sorry," she looked at the Doctor, her head starting to bow at that.

She'd failed, hadn't she? She'd failed abysmally in helping. All she'd done was aggravate Skaldak, make him more hostile and likely to attack. She'd just…she'd wanted to help so badly, to prove to her father and mother that she COULD do this, she could help, that she wasn't just the soldier that the Doctor had left on Messaline, that she wasn't just the agent that the Judge had come to help train in Torchwood, she was her own person, she was better than she was. She was wiser, faster, better and…she wasn't was she? She was supposed to get Skaldak to trust her, to listen, to make a treaty…and now he was loose on the ship.

Worse yet, her soldier-self had reared her head and she'd attacked Skaldak with the spanner. She'd felt him behind her and spun around, instantly kicking at him, the creature clearly not expecting her to move or attack first, despite possibly sensing her to be a soldier. She'd backed up, reached for anything she could use as a means of defense and grabbed the spanner. She'd slammed it into him as he lunged at her, sending him flying into the wall just as the Time Lords had opened the hatch. She doubted she'd done much damage to a warrior such as Skaldak but the point was she HAD done some sort of damage to him, she'd attacked him with a weapon.

That was sure to make her father disappointed either way. She'd failed her mission, she'd failed to prove she wasn't a soldier any longer, she failed to…

She blinked, surprised, when the Doctor pulled her into his arms and hugged her even more tightly than the Judge had, "I'm so glad you're ok," he breathed in her ear, tightening his arms around her.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, dropping the spanner to return the hug, "I…was rubbish wasn't I?"

"This wasn't a test Jenny."

"But if it was, I'd have failed it," she sighed.

"You?" the Doctor pulled away, putting his hands on her face, making her look at him, "You were BRILLIANT," he smiled at her, "You kept your head about you, you kept calm, and you were able to protect yourself. You were honorable and brave and I am SO proud of you."

"Really?" Jenny started to smile.

"Enormously," he nodded, but his face grew serious as he pointed at her warningly, "Don't ever do that to me again."

She laughed, "I'll try not to," she promised, hugging him again, "When you're around," she added.

"Oi!" the Doctor chuckled, his body jolting, jostling her as they hugged on, reaching out and grabbing the Judge's hand, yanking her towards him to encompass her in the hug, making it one big family affair.

"Um, as sweet as that is," Clara called, making the three of them look over to where she was peeking through the doorway at them, the captain and professor having joined her, "Skaldak…where did he go?"

"Right," the Doctor winced, he really did need to work on focusing during adventures and especially during danger. He was always one to start asking personal or irrelevant questions when in the middle of it all, but he was usually focused on something and using it as a means to keep the others thoughts from reaching them about the danger, keep them distracted.

Still, he did have a good excuse, his daughter was alright and absolutely brilliant.

"Doctor," the professor stepped up to them as they turned and started to climb out of the torpedo room and into the hall, "The signal, it's stopped," he held up his walkman and headphones, turning the volume up as high as it could go but there was no beeping, no noise on it at all.

"Skaldak got no answer from his Martian brothers," the Doctor realized, "Now he's given up hope."

"Hope of what?" the captain frowned.

"Of what else?" the Judge shook her head, "Of being rescued, of not being alone, of his people being dead. If he sends out a call for help, and gets nothing back, he thinks it's because there's no one there to respond."

"And now he thinks he's got nothing left to lose," the Doctor agreed.

"But what can he do stuck down here like the rest of us?" the captain tried to find some sort of reassurance in this rather strange situation, "How bad can it be?"

"We're on a Cold War Soviet Submarine," Jenny gave the man a look that reminded Clara very much of the Judge when she was being all…judging…of humans, that look that clearly meant she thought that a human was being stupid, "We were JUST in a torpedo room, a torpedo room equipped with _nuclear missiles_. I see what you mean mum," she muttered, the Judge giving her a sympathetic look and a pat on the shoulder for her plight in dealing with how slow humans could be, "If Skaldak finds out about them, about what they can do, he WILL start this war."

"How bad can it be?" the Doctor muttered, semi-mocking the man, "How bad can it be? It couldn't be any worse."

The Judge closed her eyes and shook her head when the sub jolted to the side, one of the hatches around them opening and pouring water on top of them all, "Doctor…"

"Ok," he winced, "Spoke too soon."

~8~

The small quartet were gathered back in the control room, the bridge of the sub, huddled off to the side by a bank of controls while the captain addressed his men, giving them an update of the situation at hand and what would be expected of them. It wasn't something the group was really paying attention to, save Jenny, who was only listening so she would know what the crew's plans would be and to assess the rate of success that might come with it. The Doctor still didn't want to admit that he was a 'proper general' as Jenny had once called him, didn't want to get involved in the planning and the Judge was trying not to get involved with the humans at all, fully convinced that they would do something stupid that would endanger them all and that her opinions wouldn't be listened to anyway.

Clara was sitting in the middle of them, the Doctor and Judge on either end, with Clara and Jenny in the middle, her arms crossed over her, just looking at the men but not really listening to what they were saying, "Even if a missile did get launched," she began, lost in thought, "That wouldn't be...it, would it?"

The Doctor blinked and looked over at her, "It?"

"End of the world. Game over. I mean, what if they fired one by accident, what would happen then?"

"The Cold War wouldn't be cold any longer," Jenny sighed.

"We told you, Clara," the Doctor looked at her, "Earth is like a storm waiting to break, right now. Both sides baring their teeth, talking up war. It would only take one tiny spark."

"But the world didn't end in 1983, did it?" Clara reasoned, "Or I wouldn't be here."

"Time isn't quite as linear as you humans think," the Judge remarked, sitting back in her chair.

Clara frowned, hearing her mutter something about mutated humans and rivers and how they wouldn't understand time because of that. She opened her mouth to oppose that logic, whatever it was as she wasn't sure what rivers had to do with time travel…unless the Vortex they kept mentioning was like a river? But whatever it was, she didn't like how the Judge was implying she'd never be able to understand time.

However the Judge wasn't finished and kept on, "There are key points in history that MUST happen exactly as they have, but nearly all other points are in flux," she glanced at Clara, "That means changeable."

"I know what 'in flux' means," Clara ground out, her arms crossed now becoming more defensive than casual.

"Surprising," the Judge murmured dryly, "Regardless of that, it means that history CAN change Clara. This event right here is not a fixed point in time, anything could happen and history would be rewritten. Just because it happened in the past that you remember doesn't mean it's already happened NOW, while we're here."

"Though we can guess that if a more threatening war does break out, it won't be good for anyone," the Doctor reasoned, "So we had best try and keep it from happening," he clapped his hands on his knees and stood as the captain made his way over to them, the women standing as well, "How many of us are left?"

"12," the man reported, "And we can't find Stepashin."

Jenny frowned at that, glancing at her parents to see that they had similar tense expressions at that revelation. It was more than likely that Skaldak had gotten to the man by now. And with him having access to the second in command…there was no telling what he would be able to extract from Stepashin as they all doubted that the humans would be prepared to endure the sort of…interrogations…that Skaldak could subject the man to.

"We should spilt up then," Jenny offered, "Search for him," even if there was the slimmest chance that the man was alive, that Skaldak hadn't gotten to him, they needed to take it, "We have one group stay here to guard the control room and the rest search the sub for either Stepashin or Skaldak. IF Skaldak is found, they are NOT to attack him," she gave the man a firm look, as though daring him to contradict her or to deny her orders, "But to call mum or dad or me to come."

The captain looked at the Doctor, thinking the man might have something else in mind, something solid, but the Doctor was only nodding along, "Couldn't have said it better myself dear."

"That's it?" the captain scoffed, "_That's_ the plan?"

"Well, it's either that or we stay here and wait for him to kill us."

The captain sighed, "Ok," and turned to walk off and alert the crew of their new mission.

"Has he given up or is he actually listening to us now?" the Judge had to wonder, for all the fight the man had he'd given in rather easily to the orders of a girl that looked decades younger than him.

Clara shrugged as an answer but gave a question of her own, "Is it true you've never seen one outside of its shell suit?" she inquired, thinking about the Doctor shouting that to the captain when he'd tried to flee the room after realizing Skaldak had escaped his armor. The captain had tried to keep them there apparently but the Doctor had told him how bad it was that Skaldak had left his armor, she'd heard it all over the headset they'd given HER to wear.

"Shell suit?" the three Time Lords looked at her for that and she could only shrug again.

"From what I know about Ice Warriors," Jenny began, "For one of them to willingly leave their armor…it's not good. It's like dishonorable discharge from the army. It's the last move of a desperate man and desperation makes for the most deadly of enemies."

"We have to find him," the Doctor nodded, "And we have to stop him."

"Will this help?" a voice spoke behind them.

They turned to see the professor had joined them, holding the Doctor's sonic up in his hand which made the man grin widely to see, "Ah! You saved it!" he snatched it back, not trusting the captain to not sneak up and try to seize it once more.

"No, no, it was on the floor with this," the man also held up the blonde Barbie.

"Ah!" he laughed, taking it and kissing it, "Ah, Professor, I could kiss you!"

"If you insist," the professor gave him a bland look, not at all perturbed by the idea.

"He's taken," the Judge stepped in slightly, "Sorry."

"Do I want to know what's with the Barbie?" Clara eyed it as the Doctor slipped it back into his pocket.

"It's Rose," the Judge offered, "Rose Tyler, one of his companions. He's sort of made it a habit of making mementos of them in doll form."

It was sweet, if just a little odd, but she had no qualms with it, so long as it wasn't JUST Rose and it wasn't. He had dolls of all his companions, male and female, set up in a small room that held the keepsakes that some of them had left behind. It was like a more physical reminder that they had once existed and travelled with him. Oh he had photos stored on the TARDIS datacore, had a trinket here and there, but the dolls made him feel like, at least partly, they were still there. And they were all so youthful that it helped him to keep that part of them alive in his memory, to remember them at their best.

~8~

Even though the rest of the crew had split up into teams of two, the Doctor had refused to allow that to happen in his own group. He couldn't imagine letting the Judge or Jenny go anywhere in the sub without him, not wanting to risk not being there to protect them as they wandered, but that also meant that Clara wouldn't have had a Time Lord with her to help keep her safe either. So, in the end, he had managed to convince the captain to allow him, the Judge, Jenny, and Clara to wander in a group, however the captain's one stipulation had been that the professor go with them as well, to ensure that they didn't do anything or go anywhere unauthorized. Well, he'd wanted another of the crew to go with them but the professor had volunteered.

"So…" Clara began after quite a few moments of them walking in silence, the only sound being their footsteps and the whirring of the sonic as the Doctor scanned ahead of them, "Why have you got a cattle prod on a submarine?"

"Ooh, I know!" Jenny spun around, walking backward so she could face them, "Polar bears?"

The professor laughed and nodded, "We run across them when we're drilling. Can be quite nasty, you know?"

"Or you could just leave them alone," the Judge remarked, "You were probably encroaching on their homes in the first place. But I suppose that's just what you humans do," she added, mumbling something about humans being like viruses and spreading under her breath.

"Whatever the case," Clara tried to diffuse the situation, however the professor didn't seem nearly as offended by the Judge's statement as Clara herself was. The man was actually nodding his head, seeming rather thoughtful about it, almost like he agreed, "I'd swap one for an Ice Warrior any day. Cuddlier!"

"Have you seen a polar bear?" Jenny gave Clara the same look the Judge always did, as though she couldn't imagine why she'd say that, "They can be just as deadly."

"Which is why we must have courage, my dears," the professor smiled amicably.

"Doctor!" the Judge looked at him when he flicked a small switch on the wall and alarms started going off, before hurrying to his side to try and help him turn it off, ignoring Jenny laughing at the mishap from behind them, the girl leaning against the wall now that they'd stopped, crossing her arms to observe.

"I always sing a song," the professor continued, not even flinching at the blaring alarms, seemingly used to them by now…which didn't inspire much relief or comfort in the others that the alarms going off seemed to be such a common occurrence.

"What?" Clara looked at him, confused by his statement.

"To keep my spirits up."

"Yes, that would work... if this was _Pinocchio_."

"Or Torchwood," Jenny added, "Oh Clara you should hear Uncle Jack sing a song. He's got a wonderful voice."

"He does," the Judge agreed.

The Doctor pouted at that, giving her a look for her words even as he tried to focus on stopping the alarm, "I have a nice voice too," he told her.

"I've heard your voice dear," the Judge gave him a small smile, "Like a tone-deaf moose you sound."

"Oi! I put the children to bed all the time with a lullaby!"

"In your first incarnation," she reminded him, "Right now you're nowhere near like your first. THIS you sounds like a tone-deaf moose when you sing. Or have you forgotten the TARDIS putting you in a soundproof bubble that one time?"

He pointed at her like he was going to argue, but then turned back to the alarm controls. She did have a point. He didn't know why but this version of him was rubbish when it came to loud singing. Under his breath, when nothing could really be made out, he was fine. But so was everyone else. It was when he really actually started to sing that the TARDIS would make a groaning noise and the Judge would leave the room. And yes, the TARDIS HAD actually encased him in a sort of force field once when he'd tried opera and he knew that it wasn't just because he'd tried opera that it happened, it appeared the TARDIS had wanted to do that to him long before that but had only given up right at that point.

The professor chuckled at that, not quite sure what a TARDIS was but understanding that the Doctor was apparently an abysmal singer, "D'you know _Hungry like the Wolf_?" he looked at Jenny and Clara.

"What?" both girls asked, though only Clara seemed confused by the question, Jenny appeared confused by the song.

"Duran Duran," he smiled, "One of my favorites. Come on!"

"I don't know it, sorry," Jenny frowned, "Do you know it Clara? How does it go?"

"Oh no," Clara shook her head, "I'm not singing a song!" she shouted above the alarms, only for them to turn off just when she started speaking, making it sound like she was genuinely shouting. She glanced at the Doctor and the Judge to see the man opening a hatch and sticking his head into it and the Judge pulling him back out and shutting the hatch with such a mother-scolding-child expression on her face that she would have likely laughed at it…had it not been for the rather loud groaning noise that the sub gave right at that very moment. She tensed at the sound of it, not sure if it was really the sub or if it was something Skaldak was responsible for, "What was that?"

"Pressure," the Doctor said quickly, "Just pressure."

Jenny gave her father a look at that but slowly nodded, "We ARE 700 meters underwater…"

"Don't worry about it," the professor agreed, waving it off as though that sound were common too, "Think of something else," he smiled at them suddenly and started to sway a bit, moving to sing to them instead, "Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da I am hungry like the wolf…"

"Ooh is that how it goes?" Jenny smiled in return for the attempt, "Clara sing with him, please?" she turned to the girl, a hopeful look in her eyes. She was partially trying to help keep Clara calm and distracted, but she DID genuinely want to know how the song went.

"I'm not singing!" Clara insisted.

"Why, you don't know it then?"

"Course I know it," Clara sighed, "We do it at karaoke. The odd hen night."

"'Karaoke?'" the professor frowned at the odd words, "'Hen night?' You speak excellent Russian, my dear, but sometimes I don't understand a word you're talking about."

Clara smiled at that, though it was quickly lost when, moments later a snarling noise echoed to them from the end of the hall, followed by a fierce growl and then…screaming, HUMANS screaming. The Time Lords took off instantly, Clara and the professor only just slightly behind, not quite as fast, not quite as reactive, and, perhaps, just a bit reluctant to actually follow it and see what the result of it all was. But they ran, fast, down the corridors of the sub, following the Time Lords till the three of them skid to a halt in front of a room.

Clara gasped as she saw what had made them pause, bodies, lying on the ground, torn nearly limb from limb, blood everywhere, marks all over what she could see that told her that Skaldak had done it with his bare hands.

"Good God!" the professor exclaimed as the Doctor and Jenny knelt down by the bodies, the Judge remaining standing, her hands on her hips and starting to rub them, the girl not seeming at all comfortable with what was going on before her, "Torn apart. It's a monster. A savage!"

"No, Professor," the Doctor sighed as he stood, "Not savage, forensic," he moved to the Judge's side, taking her hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it, knowing that this wasn't a sight she wanted to see.

It was true, she didn't see the point in humans, but that didn't mean she wanted them to die, and it didn't mean she wanted them to have suffered like this. She closed her eyes at the sight, "Jenny," she called, holding out her hand to the girl, helping her up and tugging her away from the bodies, she didn't want her daughter to see that either. Oh they'd seen some pretty bad things in Torchwood, had seen pictures of other past cases on the databanks, aliens infecting brains and intestines and converting people from the inside out, had seen bodies dismembered and all…but to be there right when it happened, to see it like that, to know how it was done and for what purpose…she didn't want Jenny to have to witness that.

It was one thing to be a soldier and see bodies in war, it was another to be a soldier but not experience fighting like that and she was determined to keep that sort of gruesomeness from her daughter as long as possible. She just wanted to get Jenny, and Clara, away from the bodies. NOW.

"Forensic?" the professor shook his head as though he couldn't understand the word, really though he just couldn't understand how it could be forensic.

"He um…he took them apart," Jenny offered, "To learn how to do it, how their bodies work. He's looking for the strengths and weaknesses of the human body."

The Doctor quickly scanned the bodies with the sonic, managing to pick up a trace of Skaldak's DNA on it and turned, the sonic catching a trace of it elsewhere, "Come on!" he shouted, rushing off with the Judge, Jenny behind them with the professor, racing after Skaldak, hoping they could stop him before he harmed anyone else.

Jenny paused though when she noticed Clara hadn't moved and turned, walking back to the girl and placing a hand on her arm, getting her attention and gently tugging her on after her parents, holding Clara's hand as they went. She had seen some…bad things in her life, war, soldiers, aliens and humans and all that in between. Even though she hadn't seen anything quite as bad as what Skaldak had done, she wasn't…as terrible as it was to say…she wasn't as affected by it as Clara was. Perhaps it was her soldier mentality and understanding this was a result of Skaldak's retaliation in the midst of what he deemed a war, but whatever it was, she could stomach the sight of it, Clara…Clara couldn't. She was completely affected by the sight of those bodies and she didn't want to leave the girl alone in dealing with that.

They caught up with the Doctor, Judge, and professor just as they reached a corridor with a small hole on either side for entrance and a staircase to the side, "Clara, stay here," the Doctor ordered, turning to head for the stairs, keeping the Judge's hand firmly in his, clearly meaning for her to come with him.

"Ok," Clara breathed.

"Stay here! Don't argue."

"Dad, she's not," Jenny called.

The Doctor paused, halfway up the stairs and looked back, "Right. Good! Jenny, with us…"

"No," Jenny shook her head.

"Jenny," the Judge gave her a look.

But Jenny just put an arm around the still disturbed Clara and shook her head once more, "I'm going to stay with Clara and the professor," she told them firmly, leaving no room for argument, "We're just going to be standing here, there's two points of entry," she nodded from the hole they'd come from and the one the professor was sitting on, "We need two soldiers with an eye on either one," she added, "And we're just going to be HERE, we won't be wandering off somewhere on the sub, so you'll know where we are. Go," she urged them, "We'll be fine, you two go see if you can find Skaldak."

The Doctor looked at the Judge, hesitant to leave his daughter, but Jenny was right. The main reason he hadn't wanted their group to split up was that they'd be off wandering somewhere and he wouldn't know where they were or if they were safe. But they were going to stay right there and the sonic was sensing Skaldak ahead of them, not behind, so they would be safe. If they could get to Skaldak first and quickly, then the Ice Warrior would be nowhere near his daughter.

"Ok," he sighed, before pointing at her warningly, "No wandering off."

"Aye, aye captain," Jenny winked, giving him a playful salute.

"And be careful," the Judge added.

"Of course," Jenny smiled, nodding them off.

The two Time Lords looked at each other once more before turning and hurrying up the stairs, following the sonic as it led them further and further down the hall, around a corner, and right to an open door.

"Not again," the Judge breathed as they saw yet another body lying there, a wallet strewn on the floor.

The Doctor crouched down and picked up the wallet, looking at the photo of a woman on the inside, and an ID covered in blood, "Oh, Stepashin," he murmured.

"We need to stop him Doctor," the Judge said, "Martial law, Martian law, neither are good when it comes to humans, combining the two," she shook her head, "We HAVE to stop him."

"We will," he nodded, standing up, "We'll keep the rest of them safe. No one else will die at Skaldak's hands," he swore.

They looked up a second later when they heard not just the metal of the ship rattling above them, but footsteps sounding just over their heads. The Doctor aimed the sonic up and they caught a glimpse of green scales and bright eyes rushing past them in the small rafters of the sub.

"Oh…oh…of, fast, he's fast!" the Doctor cried, the two of them rushing back the way they came.

"Jenny!" the Judge gasped as they saw the sonic turn in the direction of the small hall they'd left the others in, "Doctor!"

"I know!" he shouted, "Jenny!"

"Skaldak let him go!" they could hear Jenny shouting as they drew nearer, and then a gunshot went off.

"Jenny!" they both yelled, reaching the stairs that led to the small hall, flying down it and over to Jenny as the woman stood, her expression firm, her gaze fixed above her, a small revolver in her hand that was aimed up as well.

The professor was on the ground, wheezing, as Clara hovered beside him, trying to help him up.

"You attacked me!" Skaldak's voice roared above them.

"You tried to seize Clara, and then the professor!" Jenny countered, defending herself.

They had just been standing there, talking, about what happened to the two men, about what had happened with Skaldak, about the future of some band the professor was fond of…and then Skaldak's arms had reached down from above them and grabbed Clara. The professor had acted quickly, had fired at the creature but, being as old as he was and unable to see Skaldak in the darkness of the little rafters, it had only spooked the creature into letting Clara go. But then he'd reached down and grabbed the professor as well, had threatened him. So she'd grabbed the fallen revolver and fired at the alien as well, clearly managing to actually wound it if the cry that Skaldak had given was anything to go on, if the small little drops of green that was dripping down from above them meant anything.

"You threatened us when we were unarmed," she added, her voice with a hard edge on it, "There's no honor in that."

"Martian law decree's that the people of this planet are forfeit!" Skaldak sneered.

"But we're not ON Mars are we?" Jenny huffed, blowing a lock of blonde hair out of her eyes as it fell before her, not willing to let down her gun or take her eyes off the target that she could only barely see in the shadows.

"This is EARTH, Skaldak," the Judge agreed, "Martian law has no jurisdiction on Earth. You are on this planet, you follow THEIR laws. Individual soldiers do not have the right to declare war on a planet!"

"It matters not," Skaldak growled, "I may be unable to declare war, but others do. I have all the information I require. It will take only one missile to begin the process. To end this cold war and begin a new, more deadly one!"

"Grand Marshal, there is no need for this," the Doctor tried to reason with the creature, "Listen to me..."

"My distress call has not been answered! It will never be answered. My people are dead. They are dust. There is nothing left for me except my revenge."

"OUR people are gone as well," the Judge stepped up, "You don't see US seeking revenge, do you?"

"I do not know your people," Skaldak's voice rumbled, "I am only concerned with my own. Your species may be too weak to seek retribution, but mine is NOT. I WILL have my revenge! It is all I hae left."

"There is something left for you, Skaldak," the Doctor shook his head, "Mercy."

That only served to draw a scoff from the Martian, "Mercy?"

"You must wear that armor for a reason!" another voice cried, making the small group spin around to see the captain and a handful of men had joined them, the captain with a larger gun in his hand, aiming it right up at Skaldak, "Let's see, shall we?"

"No, Captain, wait!" the Doctor lunched forward, shoving the man's arm down. He'd tried to do the same with Jenny, but she was stronger than a normal human, being part Time Lord, and with her background, she knew exactly which muscles to lock, how to stand, to make it near impossible for him to physically lower her arm without harming her, and he would not EVER harm his child.

"I will do whatever it takes to defend my world, Doctor," the captain shouted at him, seeming nearly an inch away from spitting his words out.

"If you end up launching a war how is that defending anything?" the Judge argued.

"Yes, great, fine, good," the Doctor held up his hands, trying to keep them all calm, "But we're getting somewhere here. We're negotiating, 'jaw-jaw not war-war.'"

"I don't think quoting Winston Churchill will help right now dad," Jenny murmured.

"We shall only negotiate but from a position of strength!" the captain aimed his gun back at Skaldak.

"Excellent tactical thinking," Skaldak commended, "My congratulations, Captain."

"Thank you."

"Unfortunately, your position is not, perhaps, as strong as you might hope!"

The Judge frowned at that, "What are you talking about?"

The answer came all too soon however, when they heard a scraping of what sounded like metal on metal coming behind them. They turned slowly to see that Skaldak's armor was, somehow, making its way towards them all on its own. It had broken out of the torpedo room, the chains still dragging behind it from the arms and ankles of the suit.

"He summoned the armor…" the Doctor breathed.

"We can see that dear," the Judge muttered.

"How did it do that?" Clara offered.

"Sonic tech, Clara," the Doctor glanced back and forth between the armor as it drew nearer and where Skaldak was hiding, "The song of the Ice Warrior!"

"No!" Jenny shouted, firing the revolver once more as a green blur streaked past them from the rafters, racing right for the armor. She spun around, realizing she'd missed when the armor suddenly slammed shut, Skaldak within it once more.

The crew launched into action, firing at the suit as Skaldak merely turned and started to walk away.

"Stop it!" the Judge cried as she and the Doctor tried to get the men to stop, "You're making it worse!" one person with a gun, firing at him, they could explain, defend, but the entire crew attacking him was not something that Skaldak would let go of or ignore.

"My world is dead," Skaldak's voice echoed to them, "But now there will be a second red planet! Red with the blood of humanity!"

"Skaldak!" the Doctor leapt forward, trying to make his way through the men now instead of stop them, "Skaldak! Wait!"

"Move!" the Judge helped push men to the side, allowing the Doctor a small window to rush through, hurrying after Skaldak as she, Jenny, and Clara followed, the professor urging the captain and the others to follow as he raced after them, the crew unable to fire at them any longer with civilians and their own men between them and the target now, leaving them little option but to follow.

~8~

The Doctor nearly fell into the control room of the sub, seeing Skaldak at the controls, his arm extended towards it, wires sticking out of his wrist of his armor and plugged into the controls, specifically the ones for the missiles, "No!" he raced in, the Judge right behind him with Jenny, the captain just after her, "Skaldak! Wait! Wait! Wait!"

"He's arming the warheads!" the captain cried, lifting his gun once more.

"That won't do anything but make him WANT to blow you up!" the Judge shouted, shoving the man's arm down, lowering the gun. It would NOT help their negotiations at all if this kept up, the humans pulling their weapons on Skaldak. Attack him and he would attack you, she didn't understand what was SO hard about that for the humans to understand that they would continue to attack him.

"Where is the honor in condemning billions of innocents to death?" the Doctor tried to reason with him, "5,000 years ago Mars was the center of a vast empire, the jewel of this solar system. The people of earth had only just begun to leave their caves."

"And believe us Skaldak," the Judge stepped beside him, "5,000 years did barely _anything_ for them."

"Oi!" Clara huffed behind her, but the Judge ignored her.

"They are still nothing but children, they still need to be taught what to do. Their minds, their war strategies, their technology are…primitive compared to yours. No matter what, this isn't a fair fight, this is not a victory that your people would consider being official. This is…this is taking candy from a baby."

"Teach them, Skaldak," the Doctor nodded, going along with what the Judge had started. He didn't think that of the humans, he thought they were exceptional, advanced for their time, advanced compared to some other species that were around much longer than they had been. He knew their potential was great and to not downplay their intelligence, but Skaldak needed to see this as something laughable to attempt, needed to see it as not worth his time. Because he was so offended, so angry that he would attack if he thought it would keep his honor with him, "Teach them, show them another way!"

"A soldier without honor is not a soldier at all," Jenny agreed, "And there IS honor in mercy."

"Is this how you want history to remember you? Grand Marshal Skaldak, Destroyer of Earth? Because that's what you'll be if you send those missiles. Not a soldier, a murderer. _Five billion lives_ extinguished," but Skaldak just turned back to the controls, his finger inching towards the launch button, "Alright, alright, Skaldak, you leave me no choice," he pulled out the sonic, "The Judge and I, we're Time Lords, Skaldak. And I happen to know a bit about sonic technology myself," he held it up, showing it to Skaldak, allowing him to get a look at it, to realize what the sonic could do in this room.

"A threat?" Skaldak sneered, turning to them, "You threaten me, Doctor?"

"No," he swallowed, his hand taking the Judge's behind his coat and her skirt, not wanting to show hesitancy around Skaldak, but needing this, needing her support, her strength to even try to threaten what he was, "No, not you...all of us. I will blow this sub up before you can even reach that button, Grand Marshal. Blow us all to oblivion."

Skaldak eyed him for a long while, as though trying to determine if he was being serious or not, sizing the determination of the Doctor's eyes, "You would sacrifice yourself?"

"In a heartbeat," he nodded, flicking the sonic so the green tip turned red. He didn't want to do this, not with Jenny there, he couldn't lose another child, and, while he knew that he truly wouldn't do it, he had to make Skaldak think he would. No, he wouldn't do it, not ever, not with the Judge there, especially not with Jenny there. The earth was…important, incredibly important, especially to him, but…the Judge was his wife, Jenny was his daughter, they would ALWAYS come first, their safety, especially since he'd failed them so often in the past to protect them, he would NOT fail now.

The earth…it would survive, the humans always did, but he would NOT truly risk his family, the last things he had left in his life.

"Mutually assured destruction!" Skaldak sneered, turning back to the controls, reaching for the button that would end it all.

"Look into my eye, Skaldak," the Doctor dared, "Look into my eyes and tell me you're capable of doing this. Huh? Can you do that? Dare you do that? Look into my eyes, Skaldak, come on! Face-to-face."

"Well, Doctor," Skaldak conceded, turning to face them, allowing his helmet to drop open, revealing his reptilian face for all to see, "Which of us shall blink first?"

The Judge took a breath at that, a bit less stunned to see the face of an Ice Warrior than the Doctor was, and tried one last time to get through to the Martian, "Five billion children, Skaldak. Would you be a slaughterer of children?"

Jenny's eyes widened at that, looking from her mother to Skaldak at the words, a thought striking her, "Children," she repeated, "Sons and daughters, Skaldak," she looked at the Ice Warrior, "Would you force others to feel what you feel right now? Would you force other fathers to lose their daughters?" she stepped closer to her father, "Would you really make MY father sacrifice ME, his daughter, just for your revenge?"

Skaldak actually seemed to hesitate at that, giving them hope.

"You're not without compassion Skaldak," Clara added, having joined them silently with the professor, "Back there in the corridor, you were going to kill the professor instantly," she put her hand on the professor's arm, "I begged you not to, and you hesitated. Just for a moment, you hesitated. You showed compassion then, show it now Skaldak."

Skaldak looked down at that, seeming to consider their words, "Your daughter…" he looked up at the Doctor and Jenny.

Jenny nodded, "Remember yours?" she asked gently, "That battle, her first one? The songs you sang?"

"Of the red snow…" he breathed, his hand slowly, ever so slowly, moving away from the launch button.

And just in time for the sub suddenly started to shake, nearly knocking them all off balance, and likely would have knocked Skaldak's hand right into the launch button had it not been for him lowering it.

"What's happening?!" Clara gasped, clutching the professor's arm for balance.

"My people live!" Skaldak looked up, hearing an odd, soft noise coming over the communications systems, "They have come for me!"

"We're rising!" the captain called from the gauges, watching them intently, "We're rising!"

"600 meters," the professor looked over, seeing them moving as well, "550..."

And, a moment later, the sub jolted again, a faint cracking noise echoing through the walls, "We've surfaced," the Doctor beamed, realizing what the noise was, "Your people have saved us."

"Saved _me_," Skaldak glared, "_Not_ you."

The Judge sighed and shook her head, "Then go with them," she told him.

"Go find your descendents," Jenny offered the creature a small smile, "See if your daughter had any daughters of her own."

"We did it!" Clara cheered when Skaldak disappeared in a crack of light, teleporting out of the sub, "We did it!"

"Shouldn't the lights be green though?" Jenny frowned, looking around at the red lights that were still flooding the room just as it had been since they entered.

"The torpedoes are still armed," the Judge frowned, seeing that on the controls.

"A single pulse from that ship..." the Doctor let out a breath, his hearts straining painfully at the thought of what it could mean, "I…" he looked at the Judge, at a loss for words, at a loss for what to say. He could say it to Skaldak, he could lie, he could say that he would destroy them all if it meant saving the world and getting Skaldak to stand down.

But he couldn't lie to them, not to his wife and child when they were looking at him like that, he couldn't…

"Show mercy, Skaldak," he prayed slightly, "Come on, show mercy."

But there was no indication that mercy was coming, the lights remained red, the torpedoes armed, the launch ready to go with just the slightest prodding.

Clara swallowed hard, shifting slightly, clutching the jacket around her closer to her, starting to hum under her breath before she softly began to sing, "Da-da-da-dah I'm lost and I'm found and I'm hungry like the wolf…"

They fell silent, waiting, just…waiting…

When a klaxon sounded and the lights switched back to green, the missile hatches closing as the launch was aborted.

"_Now_ we're safe," the Doctor beamed, rushing right to his daughter and wife and hugging them tightly to him, Clara smiling as she watched on before she turned to hug the professor in her joy, the rest of the crew celebrating around them, but no one more thankful than the Doctor at that moment, thankful that his family was still alive, that they were all safe and still with him. And if his hug got a little too tight, well, the Judge and Jenny weren't complaining.

~8~

The hatch of the sub opened, the craft stuck in the middle of the ice in what appeared to be the North Pole, allowing the Time Lords, Clara, the professor and the captain out onto the top of the ship. They stared up more so than around them, right at the large flying saucer, a typical Martian craft hovering in the air above them as they all came to rest on the edge of the sub, their arms on a railing to eye it more closely.

"The TARDIS!" Clara gasped, turning to the Doctor and the Judge, the Doctor standing in between the Judge and Jenny, his arms around both their shoulders, he hadn't quite let go of either of them since the lights had turned green, "Where's the TARDIS? You never explained. Jenny just said that it ran off…"

"Oh, well, don't worry about that," the Doctor shrugged.

"Stop saying that!" Clara gave him a look, "Where did it go? Why did it even leave? HOW did it leave…"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't to know, was I?" the Doctor grumbled.

"Know what?"

The Judge sighed, seeing him pouting and not likely to actually admit to what he'd done, "He was trying to make the TARDIS safer and reset the HADS."

"The what?"

"The Hostile Action Displacement System," the Judge explained, "It's supposed to allow the TARDIS to relocate if it senses itself in danger or under attack. Only the terms 'attack' aren't quite…defined, are they Doctor?" she gave him a look for that. He'd set it to the widest setting possible, wanting to make sure that the TARDIS was absolutely safe no matter what. 'Attack' now included anything from gunfire to time winds to the ocean. It was ridiculous and, well, she wasn't a fan of the HADS.

Though she was quite sure that the Doctor thought she wasn't a fan of it because of the problems his settings tended to cause, like this.

It wasn't the case at all, there was another reason for her to dislike the HADS.

"And 'attack' means, what, sinking?" Clara shook her head.

"Appears that way," Jenny laughed, "Oh dad," she added when he grumbled under his breath about it.

"Haven't used it in donkey's years," he tried to defend himself, "Seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, never mind, it's bound to turn up somewhere!" he grinned when, a moment later, the sonic beeped in his pocket, "Oh! Ha, see, right on cue!" he pulled it from his pocket and eyed the readings of where the TARDIS had got to, "Brilliant!"

"Where's the TARDIS this time?" the Judge asked.

"The TARDIS is at the Pole!"

"Not far then," Clara nodded.

"Shouldn't take that long," Jenny agreed, the two girls starting to head for the hatch to get back inside and out of the chill.

"The South Pole?" the Judge read off the sonic, leaning over the Doctor's arm to see when he didn't specify which Pole, sensing something in his words, in how he WASN'T saying that made her suspicious.

"What?" Jenny blinked at her mother.

The Doctor just winced and looked at the captain, "Could we have a lift?"

The only response the captain could give was a clap on the shoulder and a laugh as he turned to head inside with the professor. The Doctor gave them a mocking laugh back, waiting till they'd disappeared with Jenny and Clara before he and the Judge looked up at the Martian craft, not about to risk leaving before the craft did. Smiling a bit when the craft took off, Skaldak now back with his people.

At least one alien that thought they'd lost their home and people could return to them.

~8~

"I'm going to miss you so much Jenny," the Doctor told the girl as he gave her a strong hug, he and the Judge standing in the console room of the TARDIS with the girl. They'd dropped Clara off at the Maitlands moments ago and had brought Jenny to Cardiff where she said she wanted to visit Jack quick before setting off on her adventures once more.

"I'm gonna miss you too dad," Jenny smiled, pulling back, "You too mum," she moved to hug the Judge as well.

"BE careful," she whispered to Jenny, "And if you EVER need us, you call us and we'll come running, ok?" she pulled back to look at Jenny, making sure that she agreed.

"Are you sure you don't want to stick around?" the Doctor asked hopefully, having extended the offer to her, "People to help, civilizations to rescue, lots of running…I still do that even if I don't look the same as before."

"I know," Jenny nodded, "But…I sort of like making my own way through the Universe, following in my father's footsteps is easier when he's not standing right in front of me," she joked.

He smiled at that, "If you ever change your mind…" he left the offer open.

He'd learned from the Judge not to push, not to try and force someone to do something just because it was what he wanted. Both sides had to agree and they had to do so openly, without guilt or some other reason burdening them to go along with something. He and the Judge had always had an open relationship with each other, speaking plainly, talking and discussing, making sure that things were ok with the other before doing something themselves. He didn't want to push Jenny to do something she didn't want, just like he hadn't pushed the Judge to travel with him instead of stay with Jack. It wasn't something she wanted or was ready for.

Jenny had grown so much from the last time he'd actually been around her, so much! She was a different girl just like he was a different man. She had wanted to travel with him before, she didn't now, and that was ok. She was still his daughter, he was still her father, and that was what mattered.

"You'll be the first to know," Jenny winked, heading for the door, "I'll tell uncle Jack you two say hello!" she paused in the doorway and gave them a smile, "See you later."

"Till the next time," the Doctor nodded as the Judge waved, getting a wave back from Jenny before she stepped out of the box and shut the door behind her.

"What is it?" the Judge asked as the Doctor let out a long breath and moved to lean against the console.

"It's nothing," he tried to wave it off.

"It's never nothing with you dear," the Judge moved to lean beside him, "Tell me. If you can't tell your wife, who can you tell?"

He smiled at that, "It's…it's actually ABOUT you though."

"Even more reason to tell ME then," she shrugged.

He took a breath, hesitating to speak though, running a hand through his hair as he tried to find the words to phrase it, "Do you…ever think about…maybe, one day…having more children?"

The Judge fell silent at that, it was…not the question she thought that he would ask, not the topic she thought he'd have on his mind, but she supposed she should have seen it coming, especially with Jenny having been their latest adventure.

"I…don't know," she admitted, "We…we aren't really in a place like that Doctor."

It was true, they hadn't really even spent time in the same bed save when he'd had a nightmare, and even then it hadn't lasted all that long what with her slipping out to go put a call to Jenny, hoping she'd want to join them on their next trip, that maybe seeing one of his children would help him with his nightmare. She hadn't been thinking of children, of more children, it couldn't really happen with them not being that physical any longer.

"We didn't want any more on Gallifrey," she added, "Three was enough."

Well, they would have wanted more but their daughter, as precious as she was and lovely a girl as she'd grown to be, had been quite the handful as a baby, had literally made them reconsider having more children. They loved all their children, but they weren't sure they could do with a fourth child after their daughter. And three had seemed a good number. They had both wanted to at least have one boy and one girl, had decided to try again after their second son, had decided to keep trying till they got at least one girl and had succeeded on the second go.

"I don't mean right now," the Doctor said quickly, a flush on his cheeks, "I meant…later. When…when we're able to sort all this out," he gestured between them, "I…I do love you Carah, you are still my wife, you always have been, whether I was on Gallifrey or off-world, you were always in my thoughts…" he frowned a moment as she looked away at that, "And the children were always in my hearts. I just…wonder, sometimes, if we might have children again."

"I…I can't answer that Theta," she sighed, "I feel like, right now, in this moment, the thought of having children makes me feel like we'd only be replacing the once we lost and I know that's not true," she held up her hand to stop him arguing that, "I KNOW it's not, no one could replace our children. But their loss…it's still too fresh for me," she didn't mean to imply it wasn't fresh for him, it hurt him, she knew it did, deeply, but…he had had centuries to separate him from the war where she'd had, at most a decade or so. It still felt too close for her, "I…" she swallowed, "I do miss the idea of children," she could give him that, "So…perhaps there IS a possibility that, down the road, we could consider it again. But I can't promise anything Theta, I just can't…" she blinked rapidly, feeling tears pooling in her eyes as she thought of the topic, of what they'd lost, of what had brought this up, "I just…I miss them too much to think about having more."

The Doctor nodded and turned, pulling her into his arms and holding her tightly as she cried into the lapels of his jacket, his hand running up and down her back in soothing motions, feeling terribly that he'd made her cry but feeling…lighter that they'd been able to at least broach the topic, even if it was the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The fact that there was even the smallest hope of a possibility in his wife's mind meant everything to him.

Because it meant that she had hope for them, that she had hope that, one day, they might be that close again that they COULD be parents once more. It meant that she believed they'd reach that point once more. They had been good parents on Gallifrey, a fitting pair, balanced, and he couldn't help but think of their children whenever they were around children, Jenny had just…brought it to the surface, the thoughts he'd buried. After the war it had been an impossible thought, ever having children, because when he thought of them, he thought of his wife and how he'd lost her. And then to find her again, to have Jenny, she had managed to open his heart to the idea that one day he might be a father again. But he understood that it was hard for the Judge to think of that. They both had very different experiences since the war, and it would take time to heal.

But he had to smile slightly as he felt her calm in his hold and remain there, the two of them just standing in the console room, hugging, because he knew…there was a chance for them, for their family, for their future.

And after losing everything, a chance WAS everything to him.

A/N: Awww :) I love Jenny and I can say that I'm going to try and incorporate her into at least 1 episode per series for the Doctor and Judge ;) And I'm not saying that there will or won't be Time Babies in this story, there is always a possibility, the Doctor and Judge were parents once, they might want to be again or they might decide down the road that they don't. I mostly wanted to put this end part in to just have them get that much closer to each other, that they both hope for the closeness they once had, that they both think they will get there one day, but to also touch on that the Doctor has had centuries where the Judge has only had years to heal more. I genuinely can't say yes or no to possible children for this story, I have no plans for them, but this story is really only planned out through Series 7 and 8 so far so it would depend on the show ;)

For the Barbie, I just try to make them different for each Time Lady just why he has that doll with him. Proffy was a past incarnation of her, Evy's was LJ's companion, Angel was that it was Ayla's dolly of her family, Mac was the Doctor keeping it to play with later with River :)

Also, just wanted to put a small note that TAOSAT will be updated on the 22nd, Recollections on the 26th, and An Ancient Observer on the 30th just for this month ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I think the Judge's reasons will become clear to Clara first, but we'll have to wait and see what they are ;)

I liked the cameo, I think it was a nice bit of closure that Clara and the viewers needed. With 11 becoming 12 so suddenly, I think the little nod back to 11 was needed to really properly say goodbye to Clara. Because his last moments he's talking to the ghost of Amy in his imagination instead of the companion that's standing _right there_ and that felt mean to me. So that she got a nice little talk with the Doctor was a nice touch :) Thank you :) I'm always hoping it never happens again, but when I think it's over and I'm safe, something always pops up :( Still, fingers crossed :)

We'll definitely have to wait and see about Danny and Angel }:) I'm SO excited for Angel's series with the Doctor, I've always been playing with the light/dark aspect of Angel/Doctor and to see it really be an 'in your face' darkness from him will be great, I really enjoy my outlines for her story so far ^-^


	19. Hide - Part 1

A/N: **Important note** about update-dates and stories for 2014 at the end of the chapter :(

~8~

Hide - Part 1

"I still don't understand why we had to come HERE," the Judge mumbled under her breath as she and the Doctor walked towards a rather old, rather dark house. She had her arms crossed, hugging her red and black plaid shirt to her more and not from the chill of the rain falling around them, leaning over more to speak to him as they kept on, the umbrella the Doctor was holding keeping them dry. Clara was just a little ahead of them, a red umbrella over her while theirs was black.

She was…not looking forward to this, not at all, really really wishing she was somewhere else than before that house. Because, of course, the Doctor had HAD to look up just what the house was all about when he was trying to track one of the two people who were likely inside the house at that very moment. And she was not pleased with what they'd found. Houses were fine, haunted houses were just…not her cup of tea.

"Why couldn't we have just crashed her wedding or run into her in a café as she got a cuppa?" she continued.

"Because it's a ghost!" he smiled at her, "We might have the chance to actually solve a haunting! Isn't that cool?"

She gave him a withering look, "No."

He frowned for a moment, not sure why she was so hostile at the moment and knowing that it would likely end up being worse for Clara than him. The Judge seemed to end up taking her frustrations out on the humans more than him and, while he was grateful it wasn't leading to any arguments between him and his wife, he wasn't exactly happy that she kept picking on Clara. She had seemed so eager to go after the girl at first, had wanted to find her and protect her, hadn't had an objection at all to asking the Clara from Victorian London to travel with them…so why was she suddenly so odd about asking this Clara onboard? He really did need to speak to her about it but…

Women were complicated. The Judge, on Gallifrey, she had always hated when he would stick his nose into her business and try to 'fix things' when she had an issue with someone. She had always been very independent and she liked to resolver her own conflicts, being a Judge, that was her thing, resolving things and upholding justice. She didn't tell him how to heal his patients, he didn't tell her how to deal with conflict. But still, he was hoping that whatever it was that was bothering her would be dealt with soon. If she and Clara didn't get past whatever it was that was irritating her about Clara, then he'd most certainly have a talk with her about it. His wife or his companion, it would always be his wife, no question there, happy wife happy life as the saying went. But he did hope that they would be able to find a common ground and get used to one another, get along. He had to applaud Clara for not rising to the bait most of the time, though he could sense she was getting near the end of her patience in dealing with the Judge as well.

He looked up, hearing a knocking sound to see that Clara had already reached the doors of the manor and had started knocking to try and get them inside. He hurried the Judge along from their snail's pace to join her just as the doors opened, Clara off to the side of the door, shaking out her umbrella.

He grinned and popped his head around the side of it, "Boo!" he laughed.

"Doctor!" the Judge whacked him on the arm with the wet umbrella she'd just closed, "Don't do that!" she chastised.

"Hello," he tried again, greeting the man in glasses and the young woman standing on the other side of the door, "We're looking for a ghost."

"And you are..." the man frowned, eyeing the Doctor, his gaze lingering on the Doctor's bowtie for a moment before looking quickly at the Judge and Clara as they joined him.

"Ghostbusters!" Clara smiled.

The Doctor quickly turned, pulling the psychic paper out of his coat pocket, holding it up for the man to see, "I'm the Doctor…"

"Doctor what?" the man hesitated.

"If you like," the Doctor shrugged, "This is my wife, the Judge," he nodded to the Judge who gave him a small wave and a tense smile, "And this is Clara," he jerked a thumb at the other brunette on his other side…before pushing his way past the man and into the house.

"Doctor!" the Judge huffed, going after him, "Manners! Sorry," she offered the man and woman, hurrying after the Doctor as he stepped into the nearest room, the sitting room that was nearly filled with equipment, well, what would pass as equipment for the 70s on Earth. It was all rather…basic, childish really, compared to the tech of the TARDIS, but for the time period, she supposed it was decent.

"Ah, but you are very different!" the Doctor gushed, examining the different banks of controls and dials and knobs, before spinning on his heel, his arms up a little higher than normal to avoid smacking the Judge as she was leaning over to examine one of the banks as well, "You are Major Alec Palmer!" he pointed at the man, hurrying over to him to shake his hand, "Member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare," he leaned in to whisper to the man, not quite mastering it as everyone in the room could hear him, "Specialized in espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance behind enemy lines," he winked and stepped back, pointing at the man once more, "You're a talented water-colorist, professor of psychology AND...ghost hunter! Total pleasure. Massive."

"May want to stop pointing at him then dear," the Judge called, straightening up, her hands on her legs, absently rubbing as she looked around, her entire body tense, which made Clara frown and eye her oddly, "It's rude."

The Doctor nodded, conceding that and slowly lowered his hands as the woman that had accompanied the Major spoke up, "Actually, you're wrong. Professor Palmer spent most of the war as a POW."

"Did he tell you that?" the Judge mumbled, looking around the room, her eyes flittering over the darkened doorways.

"That's a lie told by a very brave man involved in very secret operations," the Doctor agreed, "The kind of man who keeps a Victoria Cross in a box in the attic, eh? But you know that! Because you're Emma Grayling..." the Doctor grinned and hurried over to her, leaning in as though he were about to bestow his famous Gallic air kisses to her before he pulled back, thinking better of it with his wife right there, and instead shook the woman's hand, "The Professor's companion..."

"Assistant," Emma corrected quickly.

"It's 1974, you're the assistant and 'non-objective equipment.'"

"In case you were wondering, Clara, that means psychic," the Judge added.

Clara gave her an irritated look, taking it as a slight against her intelligence, "Got that, thanks."

"Empathic psychic yes?" the Judge glanced at Emma, ignoring Clara's tone.

Emma seemed a little shocked that they knew that specific but nodded regardless, looking at the Major for reassurance or some sort of explanation to this all.

"Relax, Emma," the Major sighed, "He's Military Intelligence," he recalled what the psychic paper had stated about the Doctor, his wife, and his own assistant, "So what's all this in aid of?" he turned to the Doctor.

"Health and safety!" the Doctor smiled, "Yeah, the Ministry got wind of what's going on down here. Sent me to check that everything's in order."

"With your wife?" Emma glanced at the Judge, looking back and forth between the man and woman, a small frown on her face.

"Best partners, aren't they?" the Judge cleared her throat, moving over to a chair and sitting down, Clara, who had been watching her from where she'd pushed herself up to sit on a table, frowned more, seeing the Judge's leg starting to bob up and down as she rubbed her legs even more.

"They don't have the right," the Major frowned at the Doctor, more stuck on the fact that the Ministry was getting involved than who they'd sent.

"Don't worry, Guv'nor," the Doctor waved it off, "We'll be out your hair in five minutes," he meandered over towards one of the control banks, grinning when he saw the exact equipment that it was and snapped his fingers, "Oh! Oh, look! Oh, lovely," he crouched down and started to play with one of the toggles, "The ACR 99821. Oh, bliss, nice action on the toggle switches. You know, I do love a toggle switch," he glanced over at the Judge, smiling at her, but she just gave him an uncomfortable look, "Actually, I like the word 'toggle.' Nice noun. Excellent verb."

"And horrid name for a child," the Judge added quietly, giving the Doctor a look, recalling when they'd found out that their first child was going to be a boy. He'd gone a bit off the rails in trying to think of names for their children. He HAD actually suggested 'toggle' for a name…she may or may not have hit him in the head for that one. But he had deserved it! What sort of person named their child 'toggle!?' It was like naming their child 'Doctor,' literally just Doctor…it was NOT going to happen. Ever.

"Oi," the Doctor's happy gaze turned back to Clara instantly, slapping the girl's hand as she reached out to try and toggle the device herself, "Don't mess with the settings," he pointed warningly at her and stood, pulling out the sonic and scanning around the room with it, the Judge watching him, her gaze locked on the sonic, like a hawk watching its prey.

"What's that?" the Major stepped back as the Doctor turned the sonic on him to scan.

"Gadget," the Doctor answered, "Health and safety. Classified, I'm afraid," he moved past them, pausing by a darkened archway that led into the next room, "You know, while the back room boffins work out a few kinks," he stepped further into the room and scanned the archway again.

"What's it telling you?" Emma asked.

"It's telling me that you haven't been exposed to any life-threatening transmundane emanations," he flipped the sonic in his hand and put it away.

"So the ghost isn't in this room right now?" the Judge asked, a note of hopefulness in her voice.

"Nope," the Doctor sighed unhappily at that, "Which means…" he perked up, "We need to go a-ghost huntin'," he grinned, looking at the Major and Emma, "Where's the ghost? That's the question of the hour," he moved over to a small candelabrum, picking it up, "Show me the ghost!" his grin widened when a gentle whoosh sounded around them, making the flames of the candles flicker, "It's ghost time."

"I was _really_ hoping it would be _tea_ time," the Judge frowned, fidgeting as she stood, the Doctor already hurrying out of the room and into one of the darker halls, waiting till she was the last one in the room, till she had no option left but to go with them before she followed as well.

~8~

Torches.

Was it too much ask for that they use torches instead of one single candelabrum?

The Judge was fairly certain that it wasn't an unreasonable request or one that couldn't be done. So why, why, were they walking down a dark, cluttered hall with only the flickering candles to offer them any sort of light at all. She tried desperately to ignore the lightning flashing through the windows as the storm raged on outside and to not fidget at the sound of floorboards creaking as they moved, telling herself that this was normal. It was an old house, it was very old, the floorboards WOULD creak, especially with five of them walking on them, it was a normal sound for the house…but not a normal sound to her. Oh she was used to the creaking of the TARDIS but that was more comforting and the TARDIS was alive and it was geared to protect her pilots and this house was not making her feel comforted or welcome or protected.

And if the house was alive then they would have many more problems to worry about than a mere ghost.

She closed her eyes a moment, gripping her arms tighter as she realized where her thoughts were going and trying to keep them from getting any more dark. She had crossed her arms the moment she'd stepped into the darkness of the hall and hadn't let go of her arms since then. She honestly didn't know where the Doctor was leading them, the man likely had no idea what the house's blueprints were either.

"I won't have this stolen out from under me, do you understand?" the Major was complaining, and, for once, the Judge was actually happy to hear a human grumbling and raving. What should have, and would have likely been, annoying to her was a welcome relief and distraction.

"Erm, no, not really, sorry," the Doctor murmured, not really paying attention to the Major but instead glancing back at the Judge with a curious expression on his face as though he were trying to work out what was bothering her without actually delving into her mind. He was trying to respect the privacy of her mind, to not interfere or push his way in. Their minds were buzzing beside each other, like to force fields rubbing against each other, and he could hear her thoughts easily, but they'd made an effort to slowly lower their defenses and allow a little more of the other in at a time. Whatever it was that was bothering her was something that she was trying not to let on about…it was something she was both failing miserably to do because there was quite clearly something wrong but also managing as he wasn't quite sure what that something was.

"I will not have my work stolen," the Major continued, "Then be fobbed off with a pat on the back and a letter from the Queen. Never again! This is my house, Doctor, and it belongs to me."

"This is actually your house?" Clara blinked, staring at the man, a bit shocked by that revelation.

"It is," the Major straightened.

"Sorry. You went to the bank and said, 'You know that gigantic old haunted house on the moors? The one the dossers are too scared to doss in? The one the birds are too scared to fly over?' And then you said, 'I'd like to buy it, please, with my money?'"

"Yes, I did, actually."

"That's incredibly brave."

"That's incredibly stupid," the Judge scoffed under her breath, "Honestly, you humans, it's a wonder you manage to make it as far as you do and exist as long as you do with how utterly thick you all are. A haunted house? You actually CHOSE to buy and live in a haunted house? With…with a ghost and darkness and creaking and storms and…" she shook her head, "How you manage to survive with such utter lack of self-preservation is quite probably the only astounding thing about you."

The Doctor stared at the Judge as she pushed her way past them, grabbing the candelabrum out of his hand and holding it up as though trying to get more light around them. That was…not the reaction he was expecting. Yes, he'd actually expected her to contradict Clara's assessment of it being brave, but she added a little more than he'd thought she would.

Clara moved over to the Doctor's side, leaning in to whisper to him, her eyes fixed on the Judge, "Is she ok?"

"I…don't know," he admitted, genuinely unsure of what was going on. He glanced to the side, seeing the Major and Emma staring at them as well and knew that it wasn't the right place to ask her about what was wrong, she'd never say it with so many people watching and listening. He just…needed to distract them a moment, "Listen, Major, we just need to know what's going on here."

"For the Ministry?" the Major sighed.

"You know I can't answer that."

The Major frowned at that but nodded a moment later, "Very well. Follow me," he stepped over to the Judge and held out a hand to take the candelabrum from her, leading the way down the hall, around the corner to another hall, right to a room with all sorts of notes pinned to the walls and a board that had what appeared to be the history of the house on it, even more rolled up papers lining the tables alongside it. There were a few chairs set up on one end of the room with a small little bar set up for food and drink.

Clara glanced at the Major, who had gone to one of the side tables to sift through the papers, and back to the Doctor who was looking at the Judge as she stared at the candelabrum, a concerned look on his face. He was fidgeting as he stood there, clearly wanting to talk to her. So she turned to Emma and nodded towards the two chairs off to the side, leading the girl over there to sit with her. She glanced back at the Doctor and nearly rolled her eyes when she saw that, instead of taking the Judge to the side to speak, he'd instead grabbed a camera and was starting to take pictures of himself, making funny faces, always tossing a look at the Judge. She knew he was likely trying to cheer her up a bit, make her laugh, get her to crack a smile so that it would be easier to speak to her about what was going on, but she had been hoping that he'd just talk to her about it…because the Judge didn't seem all that amused but just winced half the time, when the flashes of the camera sprang up at the same time as one of the flashes of lightning out the window.

"So…" she turned back to Emma, giving up on the Doctor. She'd done her part in giving him space to talk to the Judge, whether he actually did was up to him, "What's an empathic psychic?"

"Sometimes I...sense feelings," Emma explained, "The way a telepath can sense thoughts. Sometimes, though. Not always."

"The most compassionate people you'll ever meet, empathics," the Doctor called, having caught the last bit of their conversation, momentarily getting distracted from the Judge and trying to cheer her up, "And the loneliest. I mean, exposing themselves to all those hidden feelings, all that guilt, pain and sorrow and..."

"Husband?" the Judge called.

He spun around to face her, a wide grin on his face, one that always seemed to appear when she called him her husband, "Yes?"

"Hush."

He blinked and looked over at Emma who had her head bowed, an expression of great discomfort and sorrow on her face, and winced, realizing he'd made her uncomfortable. None of them noticed that the Judge hadn't been looking at Emma at all when she'd told him to hush, her reasons for saying that had nothing to do with the human that was feeling slightly disheartened, but more in the topics the Doctor was talking about. Such negative emotions, the guilt and pain and sorrow, were all ones she associated with Gallifrey and that was the absolute LAST thing she wanted to think about in a place like this house.

"Would you, er, care to have a look?" the Major called, now standing by the board and seeing this was as good a time as any to interrupt them. The Doctor nodded, hurrying over with Clara and Emma, the Judge moving to stand beside him, closer than normal, but still rather tense and not looking at all like she actually wanted to know what the Major was going to say, "Caliburn House is over 400 years old but she's been here much longer..." he tapped one of the photos tacked to the board, a faint, blurry white image in the vague shape of a human, its one hand extended towards the camera, "The Caliburn Ghast. She's mentioned in local Saxon poetry and Parish folk tales. The Wraith of the Lady, the Maiden in the Dark, the Witch of the Well, the…"

"We get it," the Judge cut in, clearing her throat when it caught, "She's a ghost, continue."

"But is she real?" Clara frowned at the images, "As in, actually real?"

"Oh, she's real," the Major nodded, "In the 17th century, a local clergyman saw her. He wrote that her presence was accompanied by a 'dreadful knocking, as if the Devil himself demanded entry.' During the war, American airmen stationed here left offerings of tinned Spam. The tins were found in 1965, bricked up in the servants' pantry, along with a number of handwritten notes. Appeals to the Ghast. 'For the love of God, stop screaming.'"

"Screaming," the Judge mumbled, "Wonderful."

"She never changes," Clara noted, gesturing between a few photos, the image, the white haze did appear to be in the exact same position despite being in different areas of the house, "The angle's different, the framing, but she's always in exactly the same position. Why is that?"

"We don't know," the Major sighed, "She's an objective phenomenon. But objective recording equipment can't detect her..."

"Without the presence of a powerful psychic," the Doctor nodded, glancing at Emma.

"Absolutely. Very well done."

"Obvious answer," the Judge corrected, "Why else would you have a psychic here if not because she was needed?"

"She knows I'm here..." Emma breathed, staring at the board, not seeming to have heard a word the Judge had said, "I can feel her, calling out to me."

"What's she saying?" Clara wondered.

"'Help me.'"

The Judge closed her eyes at that and rubbed her head, trying to calm her breathing, but knowing exactly what those two words would mean, especially for the Doctor. He'd want to help now. He'd think it was some sort of trapped soul instead of some haunting poltergeist or something. He was always so vulnerable to those words, could never resist them. And that meant, instead of being there to speak to Emma privately, he was going to make this about the ghost first.

Just once, just once she wished he could ignore those words and that they could be done with this adventure. This was one reason she hadn't wanted to travel with him, because she never knew where he'd get them stuck or what he'd get them into and, while Torchwood had helped her be able to handle quite a lot, THIS was not something she ever wanted to do.

"'The Witch of the Well,'" the Doctor murmured, glancing at what looked like blueprints stacked to the side of the room, "So where's the well?"

The Major nodded him over towards the plans and pulled one out, spreading it open before the Doctor, the Judge not having moved from where she was standing, not that she had moved all that much in any room she had stepped into since arriving at the house, "A copy of the oldest plan that we could find, there is no well on the property. None that we could find, anyway."

The Doctor nodded at that and turned back to the Judge, seeing her and Clara were actually standing beside each other at the board, but, while Clara seemed to be intently studying the images, the Judge was more just staring as though seeing through the board, not really focused. He frowned and moved over to them, gently placing a hand on the Judge's shoulder, making her jump and his frown deepen, she hadn't even sensed him approaching her.

"Come on," the Doctor whispered to them, Clara turning when the Judge jumped, nodding his head back towards the door to the hall.

"Must we?" the Judge frowned at it, biting the inside of her cheek.

"Where are we going?" Clara asked.

"To find the ghost," he answered.

"Must we?" the Judge repeated, now shifting in place, tensing even more as she eyed the darkness beyond the doorway.

"Because if the ghost isn't here, we can't study it," the Doctor reasoned, "Because you'll both want to come with me instead of stay here with the humans?" he knew that was more directed to the Judge, even though he'd said it to the both of them.

"Well, I dispute that assertion," Clara huffed, she really was starting to get irritated how she kept being referred to as 'the human' even though she WAS a human, the Judge often made it sound like she was talking about some sort of odd species or something.

"I don't," the Judge sighed, realizing that she really would rather be with the Doctor than stuck in a room with the humans in this case.

"Then let's go," he grinned, moving his hand to the small of her back and leading her to the door, Clara hesitating behind them.

"Dare me," Clara challenged.

The Doctor glanced back at her over his shoulder and smiled slightly, "I dare you. No takesies-backsies."

Clara shook her head but moved after them, the Judge grabbing the candelabrum on her way while the Doctor watched, waiting till Clara took the candle holder from the Judge and stepped into the hall before nudging the Judge after her, the Time Lady seeming very, very reluctant to go despite preferring to be with him than the Major or Emma.

"The Music Room is the heart of the house," Emma called, offering them that piece of information when she saw them heading out.

The Doctor nodded his thanks to her and the three of them stepped into the darkness of the halls and started down them, "You alright?" he asked the Judge, seeing that her fingers and knuckles were turning white from where she was grabbing her arms so tightly, he was starting to fear she'd end up bruising her arms if she didn't release soon.

"Fine," was her short reply.

"Say we actually find her," Clara glanced back at them from where she was leading the way with the candles, "What do we say?"

"We ask how she came to be...whatever she is," the Doctor shrugged.

"Why?'

"What other reason would you have for asking a question," the Judge nearly seemed snappish in her response, "You don't know the answer!"

"Oi, calm down grumpy," Clara shot back at her.

"She does have a point," the Doctor tried to stem off the argument, "We don't know what's going on. And ignorance is...what's the opposite of bliss?"

"Misery," the Judge answered, "Distress, agony…"

"Carlisle," Clara offered.

The Doctor laughed, pointing at Clara, "Yes! Yes, Carlisle. Ignorance is Carlisle," he glanced at the Judge, not sure if she'd be upset with him for picking Clara's answer over hers, or if she'd be a little more relaxed as her answer had been a bit more lighthearted than the Judge's, but she was just looking around the halls, barely paying attention.

He bit his lip, glancing from Clara only a step or two before them and back to the Judge, wanting desperately to talk to her about what was so clearly bothering her, but he knew she wouldn't speak with Clara being right there and able to hear. He could try for Gallifreyan, but it would just make Clara curious to what was being said and, if she started to pester them about a private conversation, then the Judge would just get more antsy and he'd rather avoid her biting Clara's head off for it. He'd tried to reach out to her in her mind, but her thoughts were racing so much at times and, at others, so focused on something else that it was like she was trying to force herself not to think of something, she wouldn't respond to that either, wouldn't open her mind up to him about this till she verbally spoke to him about it.

He let out a long sigh, hoping that they'd have a point, somewhere, that he could tug her to the side and truly talk to her.

She was starting to worry him.

~8~

The Doctor was slowly getting frustrated with the house itself. Every room they had entered on their quest to find the music room was small or cluttered with junk, making it hard for them to have enough space for him to be able to pull the Judge aside and quietly speak to her. He didn't feel comfortable letting Clara wander about the house alone, she hadn't really wanted to go if not for him and the Judge being there with her, so that was out of the question. But he really did need to speak to the Judge. She'd gotten unusually silent since they'd reached the kitchen, a room severely disused and dusty, and that had been 13 rooms and 2 floors ago.

He nearly sagged with relief though, when they did reach the music room to see that it was wide and open and large, with only a few music stands and instruments, like a harp, set up around it, completely open and giving more than enough space for his plans.

"Right, the Music Room," he clapped his hands as they entered it, "The heart of the house. Let's look around shall we?" he glanced at Clara who rolled her eyes but stepped further into the room, moving to the opposite end of it and peering around at the few objects there while he and the Judge took their end of the room, "What's wrong?" he asked the Judge quietly as soon as it appeared like they were looking.

"Nothing," she muttered.

"Carah," he whispered, reaching out to touch her arm, gently turning her to face him, "Please," he looked into her eyes, "I'm your husband and something is upsetting you. Please tell me so I can try to help."

"How can you help when I'm upset because of your 'helping?'" she countered.

"What?" he frowned, not sure what she meant.

She gave him a look for that, "You want to help this ghost, right?" he nodded, "Then you can't stop what's upsetting me."

"I can try."

"Can we leave?" she asked him, sounding more like she was trying to prove a point than actually ask if they could leave.

"But we don't know who or what the ghost is or how it's appearing like it does or why and…"

"So no, then."

"I…" he floundered for a response, his own curiosity holding him there, to the house.

"Theta…" she licked her lips, glancing around, "On Gallifrey, before the children were born, what was the one thing that you always teased me about for being frightened of?"

He opened his mouth…then clamped it shut and blinked.

Ghosts.

The Judge, she'd always been frightened of the thought of ghosts and haunting and creaking noises and shadows that played tricks on you. She was terrified of the notion of being haunted by a ghost, of some sort of incorporeal dead spirit trying to attack her or follow her or other things. He'd always teased her about it when they would watch some sort of 'horror' films in their home for entertainment, laugh at how she'd jump at the more frightening stories he'd tell her of his travels, the ones that involved ghost-like events. He and the children had even spooked her at times, here and there, using that fear against her but in a playful, childish way, never to truly harm or frighten her. But she'd always been ill at ease during fairs or 'haunted houses,' yes they DID have things like that on their planet, nearly everyone in the universe did have some notion of ghosts and haunting.

He closed his eyes, "Carah I…" he looked at her, "I'm so sorry. I forgot."

"I sort of figured you had," she swallowed hard, shifting as she looked around the dark room.

She wasn't sure if she blamed him or not for it though. It had been…centuries since he'd been around her, since he'd spent time with her like that. He rarely saw her while she was at Torchwood, and before that with all his trips about space and time, he'd return but it would end up being family times with their children and grandchildren and all. She'd confessed her fear of ghosts so long ago that it was nearly a distant memory in her own mind, she wasn't sure if she could blame him for having forgotten that fear of hers. But at the same time, she was angry that he'd forgotten. Angry that it had meant so little to him that he would drag her to this haunted house, keep her around this ghost, and not even realize from her reactions that THAT was why she was out of sorts. It was like he'd forgotten entirely and it wasn't like she had many fears. Being a Judge, dealing with criminals, being a mother and dealing with all the fears that came with raising children, this was nearly the ONLY fear she had that didn't stem from her job or family but from some sort of internal, irrational fear within herself and her own mind. That he'd forgotten that and subjected her to this…it hurt.

She had agreed to come here only for Emma. The Doctor had sworn that he just wanted to speak to Emma briefly and then leave. But then he'd seen the house and he'd started to get excited at the prospect of a haunted house and then there was the ghost images and the 'help me' and she knew it was pointless to try and talk him out of leaving. She would be perfectly content to just stay in the TARDIS, to not have a thing to do with this, but…she didn't want to be alone, not with the ghost and the house so close. She didn't want to be alone and now she was stuck with the Doctor in the house with the ghost and she didn't like it.

She didn't like it at all.

"I…" the Doctor shook his head, "We can go," he told her, taking her hand, "We'll get Clara and tell the Major we've gathered enough. There are other empathic psychics we can ask, it doesn't have to be Emma and…"

"Emma is the strongest one though," the Judge cut in, reminding him why he'd picked Emma in the first place.

"Doesn't matter…"

"It does though," the Judge sighed, "Because that's who you are Theta. You wanted Emma because she's the strongest, if you go to anyone else, you'll constantly be questioning if they've told you everything Emma could. And if you leave now and don't help the ghost then you'll end up thinking about it for the rest of your lives, what was she, did she get the help she needed, is she still there, and so on. That's what you do. If you don't finish what you've set out to do it bothers you endlessly and I'd rather you not come to resent the fact that you couldn't solve this puzzle than to just…let me endure it for now, solve the mystery, talk to Emma, and then we are leaving and you are letting ME pick the next trip. Understood?"

He offered her a smile at that, "Understood," he gave her a small salute, pride and affection shining in his eyes for her. She was going to face her fears just so he could see this adventure out to the end, and he was so proud of her for that, and the fact she was doing it for him just made his hearts swell, "But you ARE safe Carah," he reassured her, squeezing her hand, "I will not let anything happen to you, ghost or no, nothing will hurt you while I'm here."

She took a deep breath and nodded, "I know," she told him, "Just…make this fast, ok?"

He nodded, reaching his other hand up to her cheek and touching her face a moment, leaning her closer to him and tilting her head forward so he could press a kiss to her forehead in thanks, "Thank you Carah."

"Don't thank me yet," she mumbled, "I might come to regret this and demand we leave later."

He chuckled softly at that and pulled away, looking over at Clara who was still searching the room, not having seen them as one of the covered instruments was blocking her sight of them, and called out, "Do you feel anything?" he asked as he led the Judge out to the middle of the room, his hand still in hers, not about to relinquish it now that he knew why she was so on edge, guilt gnawing at him for how tactless he'd been in forgetting her fears and dragging her into this.

"No," Clara turned to them, spinning slightly with a gasp and a jump in her voice.

"Your pants are so on fire," he laughed.

Clara gave him an unamused look before sighing, "Do you feel like you're being watched?"

"What does being watched feel like?"

"The hairs on the back of your neck rising," the Judge answered.

"Oh, um…" he glanced at the Judge, "Nope, no, not at all."

"Liar," she sighed, rubbing her head as he squeezed her hand in apology.

"Come on," he looked at them, "There's nothing here, we should head back to the parlor," he started to head towards the back doorway, only to stop a moment later when he breathed out and spotted his breath in the air, very certain that it hadn't been that cold before, that the rest of the room wasn't that cold, "Oh…"

"Please tell me that's not a cold spot," the Judge nearly groaned, knowing what cold spots meant when it came to ghosts.

"No, no, I'm sure it's just the um…vents," he nodded, "And the chill from the storm, yes."

"You really are a rubbish liar dear," the Judge muttered, "I'm starting to reconsider the staying part…this is…not making me happy or reassured."

"I know," the Doctor sighed, squeezing her hand once more, his thumb rubbing over the back of her knuckles, "Come on," he glanced at Clara before leading them out of the room and into the hall.

They had only made it a few steps when a thudding, like a heavy knocking, began to sound, echoing down the hall, bouncing off the walls towards them.

"What was that?" Clara breathed.

"I would assume it's the knocking that the Major referenced," the Judge closed her eyes, praying to the stars that this wasn't happening.

The Doctor let out a breath, frowning when he saw it was visible before him, and winced when a gust of air blew past them, extinguishing the candles, leaving them in utter darkness. He looked over at the windows, wondering where the gust had come from, only to see that they were all closed and sealed shut…and starting to frost over as well. He glanced over at the Judge, relieved she had her eyes still closed and couldn't see that happening around her. But his attention was pulled forward when the thudding sounded again.

"What's making that noise?" Clara asked quietly.

"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, looking at the two women, the Judge's eyes having flown open when the thudding sounded again, "Are either of you making it?"

"Don't joke Doctor," the Judge shot him a hard look, knowing he was likely trying to lighten the situation, but it was NOT helping at all. ALL it was doing was reminding her that THEY were not making it and that, likely, no human would be able to make that noise either.

"Um, Doctor?" Clara began, hesitating a moment.

"Yes?" he asked, his eyes staring down the hall.

"I may be a teeny, tiny bit terrified."

"Yes?"

"But I'm still a grown-up."

"By your standards," the Judge muttered.

"But I'm also not your wife."

"Clearly," the Doctor remarked, not quite paying attention to what Clara was going on about.

"There's no need to actually hold my hand," Clara finished.

The Doctor blinked at that and pulled his hands up, looking at them to see one was free and the other was holding the Judge's, that the Judge's other hand was crossed before her and gripping the edge of her plaid shirt, not holding Clara's either, "Clara…"

"Yes?"

"We're not the ones holding your hand," the Judge realized what he was doing and literally jumped away from the door, realizing that it meant something was behind them. She spun around, half pulling the Doctor away with her, Clara stumbling back as she too realized what it meant, all three of them able to see a silhouette of something in the doorway when a crack of lightning lit up the hall.

It was small, crouched to the floor, but lopsided as well, skeletal in structure from what they could make out of it before they screamed and turned to run down the hall, heading for the parlor where the others should have been. But the moment they reached the base of the stairs they realized that Emma and the Major were not in the parlor any longer, but in the sitting room…and they weren't alone.

There was a metal disk, or what looked like a metal disk, spinning in the air before the archway the Doctor had scanned earlier.

The Doctor skid to a halt before it, the sonic out and aimed at it, "Has this happened before?" he demanded and the Judge could hear something else in his voice than just a question. He had put himself before the disc to keep it separate from HER and it, incase it was a manifestation of the ghost or something of the sort. The sonic wasn't out to scan it, though it WAS scanning at the moment, but also to defend them and keep it away.

"Never!" the Major shouted, just staring at the disc, a camera hanging around his neck uselessly.

The Doctor started to reach out for it, "Camera! Camera!" he grabbed it the moment the Major got it over his neck and started snapping pictures of the disk, which only made it spin faster and faster, making cracks appear in it with each flash of the camera's light.

"Doctor!" the Judge shouted.

He spun around, hearing the tremble in her voice to see her pointing at a doorway through which he could vaguely see what looked like a forest with a white figure running towards them and started snapping pictures of that as well.

"Help me!" a ghostly wail echoed through the room moments before Emma stumbled backwards and collapsed into the Major's arms.

Clara spun around, hearing a crash above them and gasped, "Doctor look!"

All of them turned to see that on the stairwell, right on the walls, in illuminated letters, were the words 'Help me!' before the message started to fade away.

"I changed my mind," the Judge swallowed, shooting the Doctor a look.

She did NOT want to be there any longer.

~8~

The Judge sat in a chair in the parlor, before a small fireplace that the Major had started for her and the two others, Clara and Emma. She was silently cursing herself for all this, because she'd alerted the Doctor to that image through the doorway, he'd become convinced, even more so than when they saw that creature in the halls, that it wasn't just a ghost but that something alien was at work. It did make her feel only slightly better that it wasn't an actual 'ghost' that was in the house, but then again…it acted and looked and made her feel like a ghost so she still wasn't very comforted.

The Doctor had gone off with the Major to the darkroom of the house to develop the pictures he'd taken of the spinning disk. He'd tried to get her to go with him, not wanting to leave her side now that he knew why she was so agitated being in that house, had even cited that it would mean leaving her alone with humans, but she'd denied the request. Because what would be better, a room in a haunted house with light and a fire even if it had humans or a room that was meant to be and called the DARKroom in a haunted house with one human and the Doctor?

She picked the one with the fireplace and light.

…even if it meant now being stuck with Clara and Emma instead.

Clara pouted three glasses of whiskey, handing it to each of them as she sat, smiling a little when Emma took a sip and grimaced, "Ugh! I'd rather have a nice cup of tea."

"Me too," Clara took the glass from her, "Whisky's the 11th most disgusting thing ever invented," and moving to take the whiskey from the Judge but she just downed her glass without a flinch and reached for the bottle of it again.

She'd learned rather early in Torchwood the many alcohols that the humans were fond of. Had yet to find one that actually got her as smashed as she'd seen Jack and the others get, but it did make her tingle slightly if she ingested enough. She nearly laughed recalling the incarnation of herself that had pulled a gun on River Song, THAT version of her had been the most reckless she could remember being, had gone out drinking with Jack more times than she could count and had to drag his sorry backside back to their base for it. She knew humans would have issues with 'turning to the bottle' when trying to deal with something, but it wasn't as though she always did, and it wasn't like the alcohol really did anything to her.

"So…" Clara began when they fell into an uncomfortable silence, "You and Professor Palmer," she eyed Emma as the woman sat wit her head in her hands, "Have you ever...y'know?"

"No," Emma stated.

"Why not? You do know how he feels about you, don't you? You of all people?"

"I don't know."

"Empathics sometimes get mixed signals," the Judge muttered, taking another swig right from the bottle this time, "You want someone to feel one way so you interpret their emotions that way."

"Most often there's just…nothing there, when we wish it was," Emma agreed, frowning.

"Oh, this is there," Clara laughed softly.

But Emma seemed confused, "How do you know?"

"Because it's obvious. It sticks out like a...big chin."

"What about you?" Emma eyed them, her gaze drifting to the Judge, "How are you dealing with the house?"

"Can tell I'm frightened can you?" the Judge muttered under her breath.

"What, you?" Clara's eyes widened at that, hearing her.

The Judge looked over at her, "Am I not allowed to be scared of something?"

"No, no, it's not that…" Clara shook her head, "I just meant…really?" she stared at the Judge, "You're actually…scared?"

"She's not a fan of ghosts of the past coming back to haunt," Emma told Clara quietly.

"Yes, thank you," the Judge shot her an irritated look, "If we could NOT delve into my personal emotions, ones I do not want to share with humans, that would be lovely."

"Sorry," Emma winced, realizing she'd likely revealed more than she should have if the Judge was now a bit more angry than scared, "Sorry."

The Judge let out a very long breath, "Change the topic."

Emma hesitated a moment before starting to speak again, "The Doctor…"

"Change the topic," the Judge gave her another, more pointed, look.

"Hold on," Clara shook her head, eager to learn more about the mysterious man, "What about the Doctor?"

Emma bit her lip, looking between the Judge's warning gaze and Clara's curious one before she focused on Clara, the girl was so…innocent, radiated such curiosity, and she'd seen how much Clara appeared to care for and trust the Doctor and she just…she couldn't help but whisper, "Don't trust him...there's a sliver of ice in his heart."

"I was right," the Judge remarked, standing, "You DO get your signals mixed. And I am going to warn you just this once, Emma, don't you dare speak about the Doctor as though you KNOW him just because you get some sort of feeling off of him."

"Judge?" they looked over, hearing the Doctor calling them from the hallway, "Clara?"

"For once," the Judge turned and headed for the door, Clara hurrying after her, "He's got the timing fairly well."

Humans and fear and irritation was not a good combination for her apparently.

~8~

The Doctor and Judge were huddled under the black umbrella once more, the Doctor's arm wrapped around the Judge's waist, and not to avoid the rain. Clara was under her own red umbrella as they hurried towards the TARDIS, coming to a stop in the rain just a few feet away from it, mostly because Clara had stopped running and was just staring at the box.

"I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me," she murmured, glancing at the two of them, "Why doesn't like me?"

"The TARDIS is like a cat," the Doctor shrugged, speaking before the Judge could open her mouth, "A bit slow to trust," he stepped past Clara, heading for the TARDIS once more, "But you'll get there in the end," he quickly unlocked the door while the Judge held the umbrella, the two Time Lords stepping into the box, the door shutting quickly behind them as Clara headed after them.

The Doctor hurried towards the console while the Judge moved to place the umbrella against the wall by the door as Clara knocked on it from the outside, struggling to open the door. She sighed and looked up at the rotating portion of the console, "It's alright," she called to the box, "Let her in."

The lock clicked just as she turned to head towards the console as well, Clara stepping in through the door, closing her umbrella and looking around for a place to put it, gently setting it down beside the Judge's, assuming that neither the Time Lords nor the TARDIS would appreciate her shaking her umbrella out all over the floor.

"So...where we going?" Clara hurried up to join them at the console.

"Nowhere," the Doctor answered as he and the Judge got to work preparing the box, "We're staying right here. Right here, on this exact spot, if I can work out how to do it."

"It's a temporal hop, Clara, not a spatial one," the Judge added, more at ease now that she was in the TARDIS, somewhere more familiar and safe…even if the box was now about to be used to track a ghost.

"So, when are we going?" Clara corrected.

"Oh, that is good," the Doctor laughed, "That is top-notch."

"And the answer is..." Clara frowned as the Doctor just pushed off the console and headed towards one of the stairs to the lower levels.

"We're going always," the Doctor spun to face her a moment, before continuing on his way.

Clara blinked and looked at the Judge, "He DID say 'We're going always,' didn't he?"

"Yes," the Judge sighed.

"And what does that actually mean?"

"We're going to be stopping at different points in time, from the beginning to the end," the Judge explained, "So, in a way, always as in the scope of the entire timeline."

"What do you think?" the Doctor called as he came back to their level, a bright orange spacesuit in his hands. He held it to his body and spun in a circle as though he were showing it off.

"Color's a bit boisterous," Clara remarked.

"I think it brings out my eyes," he defended.

"Makes my eyes hurt."

The Doctor pouted at that but turned to put it on as the Judge prepared the camera that he'd nicked from the Major. They were going to need quite a few pictures and they had to make sure that the camera would survive the conditions it was likely to find itself in.

~8~

The Judge was standing at the monitor, watching as the Doctor finished up with the last of the pictures. They'd been, quite literally, all along the timeline for the earth in that exact spot. The Doctor had gone out, about 6 billion years ago, when the planet was still volcanic and forming, to take a picture. He'd continued that trend with the prehistoric era, the late Victorian era, and was now out there near the end of the Earth's life, the planet looking sickly and dying. Those were just a few of the more memorable eras, there had been many in between them.

She looked over at Clara, the girl standing behind her but standing in such a place where, had she been closer to the monitor she would have been right beside her. Clara HAD been right beside her till she'd remarked about needing space to type in commands and coordinates and Clara had backed off. The girl had tears in her eyes as she stared at the monitor.

"What's wrong?" she asked Clara.

"We just…watched the entire life cycle of the Earth," Clara breathed, "Birth to death?"

"Yes…" the Judge trailed off, not sure what was so enormous about that.

"And you're ok with that?"

The Judge nearly rolled her eyes at that, "Clara if you're upset by realizing that your planet is going to die one day, then you may want to stop travelling with us. Because I guarantee you, you will see other planets die, other people die, civilizations end and stars fade. And if you're going to fret about it each time, it will wear you down. If you're going to stand there and spend all this time crying about how your planet is going to die billions of years from now when you won't even be there, then I would tell you to think about WHO you're saying that to and WHY you shouldn't dare," her expression hardened, thinking about Gallifrey, their planet was truly lost, gone, no more, the Earth was still there, and yet Clara was standing there mourning the loss of it when it was STILL there, when she could go back to a second after she'd left her time period and resume her life as though nothing had happened. HER home was still there, the same couldn't be said for her and the Doctor and, in her mind, Clara didn't have the right to act as though she'd just lost her home planet when she had no idea what it was like to truly lose her home like that, "And I will tell you to get out of this ship."

"I'm not…" Clara blinked at that, not quite expecting such a blunt response while she was upset, but realizing she should have spoken to the Doctor about this if she'd wanted compassion, "I just…I can't wrap my head around this. To you and the Doctor, I haven't been born yet...and to you, I've been dead 100 billion years. My body is probably out there somewhere but here we are, talking. So I am a ghost. To you and the Doctor, I'm a ghost...we're all ghosts to you," she hesitated a moment, "Is…is that why you don't like me, because I'm a ghost and you don't like them?"

The Judge stared at her, glancing at the monitor to see the Doctor heading back towards the doors and knowing that she wouldn't have enough time to actually tell Clara why she didn't like her without the Doctor hearing. Because what she had to say…it wasn't something she wanted the Doctor to know about till he absolutely had to know, if ever.

"I don't like you for many other reasons Clara, least of all to do with you being a ghost when you're still flesh and blood before me," she supplied instead.

Clara opened her mouth to respond to that…just as the doors to the TARDIS opened and the Doctor stepped in. He paused, pulling off his helmet, in his approach to the console, eyeing them both, noting Clara's open mouth and the Judge's rigid posture, "Everything ok?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes," the Judge answered shortly, before sighing and looking at him, "Do you have everything you need to save the 'ghost?'"

He nodded, stepping up beside her to help her pilot, curious to what the photos he'd taken would reveal to them about just how to do that.

A/N: **Sort of important note:**

I'm really hating real life right now :'( Every time I think I'm catching up and getting a pattern, something always comes up and changes it all and throws me off :( And, on top of that, I've fallen really ridiculously behind on so many things involving the stories (episode covers, videos, posting them on other sites, etc) and on this site like answering my PMs, I keep falling more and more behind each day, and getting Series 8 for my other TLs written, and the time I have to edit comes out to be all the time I have in a day and then I can't catch up on other things and if something comes up I fall behind on editing and...-sigh- I have a lot to work on and make up for and focus on and not enough hours in the day to do it.

And this breaks my heart to do but...for the next 3 months and 1 week, I think I may have to post every other day instead of every day :( There may be a few days where I post 2 chapters or where I post a chapter 3 days in a row or something, I'll be posting every day (or trying to) for Proffy, Evy, Angel, and Mac when I get to Series 8 for them. But with all that I really need to catch up on and not having the time to do it, I think I might need to downgrade to that, just for the rest of this year. I want to try and catch up and be able to start 2015 on a good note and make it my New Year's resolution to keep up-to-date with everything.

I should be able to get this story finished this year, along with OUAT, and post LotR and Star Wars, but TL5 might have to be pushed to 2015 :'( I really, really hate to do this, but I really need more time in a day to get things done and, if I end up off schedule for one day, I'd at least have a spare date to get the stories ready to post sort of thing :'( I'm so sad because I was so proud of updating daily for so long and now it's every-other-day :( But I'm really hoping that this will help me reset and catch up and be able to start 2015 off on a good foot.

I'm sorry :(

As for this chapter, a lot more tension for Clara and the Judge :( But we definitely see Clara getting more irritated with it lol :) And poor Judge, I sort of thought it would be interested for her to have a fear of ghosts and be stuck in a 'haunted' house with 'ghost' lol :) There's definitely more to her fear than we saw here though Emma touched on it ;) We'll find out more about it soon :)

Some notes on reviews...

The Doctor will try to confront her first, but he might get a bit distracted :)

We'll definitely see a lot more about the Judge's thoughts on the children and the war and the prospect of the future. I think she wouldn't rule out never, ever, ever having another child, but if it ever happened, she knows it probably wouldn't be for centuries and centuries because of that yup :) We'll see some more of her thoughts on the war and the Doctor during the 50th ;) That's a very good point, even though I'm not a mother myself, I do believe that the second you become one, that your child becomes THE most important person in your world, more than your parents/siblings, more than even your spouse, and to lose them would not be something that could easily, if ever, be forgiven of the person that caused the loss :( We'll learn more about the children and the Judge's thoughts on how the Doctor relates to their deaths in the 50th as well. I can say that the question of how many of the children might have died before the 'time lock' will be answered in the 50th too :) It was definitely intentional to sort of push Clara to the side slightly, it's mostly due to the Judge and her feelings about Clara, the tension between them, but we'll see them talk about her issues with Clara and it will be largely resolved and start to recover soon enough for some major events to happen ;) Oh god, I am loving what I have of Proffy so far ^-^ I can't wait till the show ends to start posting her again :)


	20. Hide - Part 2

Hide - Part 2

The Judge was not a fan of having to go back to the house, even less a fan of the fact that, as the only way the Doctor could show the others the pictures he'd taken were via a slide projector, the lights were now turned out on purpose. She stood beside the Doctor at the back of the projector, fidgeting, her arms crossed, hands gripping her arms tightly, biting the inside of her cheek with her gaze focused directly on the projector screen. Perhaps if she focused on that and only that, she'd be less inclined to notice other things, like the storm and the darkness and the noises of the house. The Doctor had assured her on the way in, once he'd seen the photos developed in the TARDIS and worked to shrink them to slides, that it was NOT a ghost, not in the human sense, but it was difficult to ignore how ghost-like the event was in itself. She hated old, creepy houses, she hated apparitions, she hated spooky noises, and she was sorely regretting not having stayed in the TARDIS when the Doctor had offered to let her. But if it really was an alien, as much as she trusted her husband to sort it out, it was probably best that she be there with him…even if it meant putting up with the humans and ghosts. She truly didn't want to risk what had happened in the past, where he was alone or with only humans and gotten into danger, she didn't want him to face things alone.

She…she had to PROVE herself in this, she had to prove that she could do it, that she could BE there with him. That she was capable of it, more so than the humans were.

She HAD to do it.

The Doctor slipped the new slides into the projector, his gaze flickering to the Judge in concern as her knuckles turned white again, not even noticing Clara and Emma talking off to the side as Clara stared at the board of the Major's work on the ghost. He really did have to talk to her about this fear when this situation was sorted, he knew the extent of her fear from Gallifrey, couldn't think of something so horrible in Torchwood that would have her acting like this now. There had to be something MUCH more going on than just a simple ghost. He knew she had been in more frightening situations than this on Gallifrey and yet a simple apparition was spooking her this badly.

"Right!" he shook his head, clapping his hands and spinning to them, hoping that if he could get this sorted quickly then he could speak to Emma sooner and get his wife out of the house faster, "Done!" he began to gesture them all closer, not that the Judge had to move far, if at all, "That's it, gather round, gather round. Roll up! Roll up!" he waited till Clara, Emma, and the Major were all within sight of the projection board and flashed the sonic at the projector to turn it on, showing them clips the Major had taken of the ghost, the white blur in the same position throughout the house, "The Ghast of Caliburn House, never changing, trapped in a moment of fear and torment but what if she's not? What if she's just trapped somewhere time runs more slowly than it does here? What if a second to her was 100,000 years to us? And what if somebody has a magic box, a blue box," he smiled at the Judge, trying to get some sort of smile out of her, some sort of comfortable reaction, but she just kept her gaze on the board, "Probably," he sighed, shaking his head and focusing once more, "What if said somebody could take a snapshot of her, say, every few million years?" he flicked the sonic and the photos changed, or the white blur changed. It became more like a humanoid figure, more pronounced, more clearly a woman running in a stop-motion sequence, in one position in one slide but in another in the next. It appeared she was running, looking behind her as she did before facing forward again, "She's not a ghost..." the Doctor sighed, "But she's definitely a lost soul. Her name's Hila Tacorian," he flicked the sonic once more and another slide appeared, this time more like a profile picture, of the woman, Hila, dressed in a tight white spacesuit, holding her helmet, smiling at the camera, "She's a pioneer, a time traveler, or at least she will be, in a few hundred years."

The Major shook his head frantically at that, "Time travel's not possible. The paradoxes..."

"Resolve themselves," the Judge muttered, "If measures are taken, if the one to create them are careful," she gave the Doctor a small glare at that, recalling a few tales of his antics in the past, the paradoxes he'd made, the small handful she'd been a part of.

The Doctor, however, smiled widely even at her glare, she had at last focused on something besides the projector and even if it was a jibe against him, he would take it.

"How long has she been alone?" Emma frowned, her eyes roving over the image of Hila, the young woman so hopeful, smiling at the camera and just so thrilled to be who and what she was.

"Well, time travel's a funny old thing," the Doctor shrugged, "I mean, from her perspective, she crash landed..." he glanced at his watch, checking the time, calculating it, "Three minutes ago."

"Crash landed?" Emma spun around to face him, glancing around the room as though she'd see Hila's ship somewhere, "Where?"

"A pocket Universe," the Judge told her, "Like a small echo of our universe."

"Yes," the Doctor pointed at her, "They happen sometimes but never last for long. Ah," he held up a finger for them to give him a moment, before he pulled two balloons from his pocket and blew them up, "Our Universe," he held one brightly colored balloon up in his right hand, "Hila Tacorian's here," and held up the other in his left, "In a pocket Universe. You're a lantern," he nodded at Emma, not having anymore hands to point at her with, "Shining across the dimensions, guiding her home. Back to the land of the living," he moved the balloons together for a moment before letting them go to fly around the room as they deflated.

"She's in a bit more danger though," the Judge mumbled, "She was being chased by something."

"What?" the Major frowned at that.

The Judge moved the slides back to the pictures the Doctor had taken, "See?" she pointed as she stopped on one where Hila was looking behind her, "She's looking back at something, trying to make sure it hasn't caught up to her yet, trying to see how far behind her it is, how close it's getting."

The Doctor reached out and took her hand off the slides, holding it, squeezing it, seeing a brief flash in his mind of what she was thinking of. The war. She was thinking of how they'd flee from the Daleks, how they'd be chased by some of their other war machines, how they'd look behind them to ensure the Daleks weren't about to fire at them, before they'd drop to the ground, avoiding bombs and air fire and just…the horrors that could chase you in the middle of a battlefield.

"But what's chasing her?" Clara looked between them, before stepping closer to the board and squinting as though she'd be able to see something behind Hila, but it was too blurry to even really make out the woman in question let alone what was following her.

"Well, that's the best bit," the Doctor grinned, "We don't know yet."

"That's not really a good thing dear," the Judge took a breath and looked at him, "Were you able to snap a picture after Hila ran past you?" she was assuming that Hila HAD run past him, given how close the white blur that was Hila had gotten to the camera slide after slide.

He nodded, flicking the sonic at the slides to change it to the last one he'd taken. The small group stilled at the sight that was revealed to them, the Major slipping off his glasses as he eyed the creature captured in the last frame, it was low to the ground, like a scuttle, with gray skin, and what looked like skeletal features, too sharp to be marred by the blur.

"Brilliant," the Judge let out a very non-brilliant breath, subconsciously moving closer to the Doctor as she recognized it.

"Oh," the Doctor blinked, winding an arm around the Judge, realizing too where they'd seen this creature before.

In the hall when the lightning had struck and the windows had frozen over.

"What is that?" Clara grimaced at the sight of it, actually grateful for the blur that they wouldn't have to see the full brunt of the rather ghastly creature.

"I don't know," the Doctor murmured, his hand moving up to rub the Judge's back a moment, before he cleared his throat, "Still!" he clapped his hands, putting on a smile for them, for the Judge mostly, "Not to worry!"

"So, what do we do?" Emma looked at him.

"Not 'we,'" the Doctor corrected, "YOU. You save Hila Tacorian because you're Emma Grayling. You are the lantern, the rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid."

"And that means we need to take precautions incase you muck it up," the Judge added.

"Oi!" Clara frowned at that, though even she could admit she was just a tad bit relieved that the Judge had said that, it sounded like the her before they'd come to the house. And even though it was a bit belittling to humans, it made her feel like the Judge was getting over whatever it was that had her out of sorts before. Having TWO Time Lords back on par would be better than having just One with another struggling to get there. Made her feel safer.

"We DO need to prepare though," the Doctor agreed, "We need some sturdy rope and a blue crystal from Metebelis Three. Plus, some Kendal Mint Cake…"

The Judge shook her head as the Doctor turned to leave, still rambling about what they needed, clocks and wires and other TARDIS items, before she hurried out of the room and after him, making sure she was right beside him as they walked on, Clara moving behind them to follow.

Even though it wasn't a 'ghost' in the house, she still found the house itself creepy and would rather be with the Doctor than walking about alone…or waiting with the humans.

~8~

The rain had let up slightly, allowing the trio to make it to the TARDIS without the need for their umbrellas, which made the Judge only a fraction more hopeful that this wouldn't end up being as bad as she was fearing it would be. The entire event, from the ghosts to the house to the creature, had set her on edge and she needed to focus, she needed to be useful and help but the doubt gnawing at her was enormous. It was funny how little you could really focus when you were scared.

She could remember the Doctor telling stories to their children when they'd have a nightmare or when something would scare them. He'd go on about how fear was a tool, how it was a superpower, how it made you faster and stronger and more clever, let you think faster.

But it was only partially true and she hadn't had the hearts to tell the children that after he'd made them feel better about being frightened. Fear could paralyze you too, it could lock your limbs, it could flood your mind with the worse case scenarios, it could make you so unfocused because all you could feel was fear and all you could see was the thing scaring you. There were two sides to fear and SHE hadn't had the luck to be raised and grow with the belief that fear could help you, instead it just crippled her.

The Judge shook her head and made her way to the TARDIS, coming up with some schematics and calculations that they would need to work out how to get to Hila, while the Doctor worked beneath the console, searching the panels at its base for some other objects they'd need.

"Can't you just...y'know?" Clara inquired as she sat by the railing, looking down at the Doctor. At least she could understand what HE was doing instead of trying to understand the alien symbols that flashed across the screen by the Judge.

"What?" the Doctor called, not quite sure what Clara was talking about.

"Fly the TARDIS into the parallel Universe?"

"Parallel Universes are closed off," the Judge told her, making Clara look back at her, "If we even so much as attempt that, it's likely the walls of the Universe would break down and we'd all die."

"But…then how…how are we going to…" Clara frowned at that.

"We're not trying to break into a parallel Universe Clara," the Judge sighed, sounding slightly exasperated that Clara didn't know the difference between the parallel and pocket universes, "We're trying to open a POCKET Universe. Two completely different things. Pay attention."

"Oi! I've only just started travelling with you, and I've never heard of pocket universes before, so don't go picking on me for not knowing the difference," Clara pointed a slight warning finger at the Judge.

"Usually a different title for the universe means that it's a _different_ universe," the Judge argued.

"We can't take the TARDIS in," the Doctor called up to them, making his way up with a small blue crystal in his hand, stemming off what was most likely to be an argument. He_ could_ understand how both arguments were valid, not many people WOULD know that there was a such thing as a pocket Universe, the Ponds hadn't known there were things like the bubble universe where House was, but the Judge DID have a point that they _had_ been very specific to call it a pocket universe which implied it was something unique, "Because it is collapsing. The TARDIS _could_ get in there, alright, but entropy would bleed her power sources, you see? Trap her there until the entire universe decayed back into the quantum foam. Which would take about three minutes, give or take, you know."

"And we can't have the TARDIS getting trapped can we," the Judge added, making the Doctor nod and point to her before he went to gather more supplies.

Clara though, frowned at that, there was something different in the Judge's words just then, in her voice. It sounded almost…bitter, but not quite…she didn't know what it sounded like, but there was something else in her voice, she knew it. She had little time to work out what it really was though as the Doctor called her from down one of the halls, something about needing her help with gathering the clocks…

~8~

The Judge wasn't quite sure if ALL the wires that the Doctor had decided to run from the TARDIS up to the Caliburn house were necessary, but she wasn't about to argue with him, it gave her more to do. They were back in the music room now, and she was doing her best to ignore the cold spots all around the room in order to focus on setting up anything and everything she could. Not even really to help the Doctor, but just to be able to think about something other than the cold spots and the rain and the darkness and the ghost and creature and…

She shook her head, she wasn't supposed to be thinking about that, not now, right now she was supposed to be syncing all the clocks that were scattered around the room on various surfaces together. They all had to be precise, set exactly to the same time. Thank the stars she was a Time Lord, she had to think, if not it would be incredibly frustrating to try and get every single clock of different makes and models to count at the same time. She had seen Clara trying to do it and had taken over for the girl when she saw that each of the clocks was seconds off from each other.

She glanced up to see the Doctor setting up a small ovalish, white orb on top of a small fixture that the clocks were connected to as well.

Clara was watching him intently as there wasn't much left to do what with the clocks being the main focus of the work, "What is that?" the girl whispered, moving to touch it.

The Judge very nearly called out that it was rather stupid for a human to touch something so clearly alien without knowing WHAT it was first, for all Clara knew it could incinerate her upon touch and she was still reaching for it. But then the Doctor slapped her hand away before she could touch it, "A subset of the Eye of Harmony," he told her.

Clara frowned at that, not sure what it was, "I don't..."

"You wouldn't," the Judge called, setting the last clock, "It's Time Lord technology Clara. And, unless you're a secret Time Lady, you shouldn't know what it is."

"Be weird if you did," the Doctor agreed, "I barely do myself."

"That's because you hardly passed your pilot's test," the Judge reminded him.

She had been there when he'd been studying for it. Time Lords were rather strict about their TARDISes and who could fly them and when they'd be qualified and old enough to actually apply for a pilot's license. They had to be older, at least a century old, to even begin the process though most waited till they were about 300 years old to try it. The Doctor hadn't quite been that patient. It had made it a tad more difficult for him to pass it, he was so eager to get it as soon as possible that he'd crash studied for his tests and exams. He barely remembered what half the items on the console were called and she knew he'd likely forgotten what quite a few other parts of the TARDIS were meant for either. He'd just been so excited and eager to learn how to fly a TARDIS, to go off and explore the Universe…

She swallowed hard and looked away at that, sensing her thoughts taking a turn she'd rather avoid.

"Right," the Doctor turned to Emma, ignoring the Judge's remark, it was nearly true, well, mostly true…entirely true…but that wasn't the point of the night, right now they had to get that doorway to the pocket universe open, "You, sit down," he led Emma to a lone chair in the room, making her sit down and placing what appeared to be a mess of wires attached to a blue jewel onto her head like a crown, "All the way...from Metebelis Three."

"What does it do?" Emma reached up to try and keep it on her head as it jiggled about.

"If he's made it properly," the Judge stepped up as the Doctor went about sonicing the clocks to ensure they were all set properly, "It'll amplify your natural abilities."

"And if he hasn't made it properly?" the Major frowned.

"Well…then we had all best step back when her head explodes," the Judge stated bluntly.

"What!?"

"It's fine," the Doctor winced at that, not having wanted THAT part to be revealed, "I made sure it was set just fine, it's perfect, no chance of any heads exploding," he kept the 'well, I SAY _no_ chance' to himself.

"And what exactly is this arrangement?" the Major's face grew more stern, his body tensing, less willing to participate in this now, to let Emma participate in it all, now that he knew it very well could be even more dangerous than he thought it would be.

"A psychochronograph," the Doctor explained, "It's…"

"Something that is too complex for you to explain right now dear," the Judge cut in, holding up a harness that was resting beside a large winch and rope system. He nodded and hurried over, allowing her to slip the harness on as she and Clara started to buckle him in.

"Forgive me," the Major followed, dropping his voice low so Emma couldn't hear, not wanting to alarm her, "But isn't it all a bit, well... make-do and mend?"

"Non-psychic technology won't work where we're going," the Doctor shrugged, "All we need to do is dive into another dimension, find the traveler, help her escape the monster, get home before the entire dimension collapses and Bob's your uncle."

"We?" the Major frowned, looking down to see a second harness was lying there.

"Not WE we," the Doctor gestured between himself and the Major, "WE we," he pointed between him and the Judge.

"Don't say we we Doctor," the Judge shook her head, sighing, "You sound like a toddler needing the loo and…" and then she blinked as his words actually HIT her, "WE we?" she motioned between them.

The Doctor laughed at that, "Yes, you and I are going after Hila," he leaned over and picked up the second harness.

"What?" she blinked once more but he turned her and started to help her into the harness.

"It's either you come with me…"

"To some dimension with a monster running around?"

"Or stay in the creepy old house," he continued as though she hadn't interrupted him, "In the dark in the middle of a storm surrounded by the humans," he turned her around and began to buckle her up as well, "What'll it be dear?"

She let out a breath, he really knew just what to say to get her to agree to the most barmy plans, "I get Hila though."

He smiled at that and nodded, rubbing her arms a moment, "And _I_ will deal with our resident monster," he agreed, knowing that it really would be better for the TWO of them to go after Hila. That way one person's attention wouldn't be divided, trying to protect Hila while also keeping an eye out for the creature. This way one could focus on Hila while the other dealt with the creature, a rather good compromise.

"You sure you don't want ME to go?" Clara had to ask them, crossing her arms, not entirely sure how she felt about the Judge going instead of her. She knew she had no reason to feel that way, SHE was the guest among the two of them, she was the companion, but didn't that mean helping them, assisting? How could she help from there while they were running about in another universe?

But Clara quickly held her hand up a moment later when the Judge opened her mouth to answer, "Never mind," she didn't particularly care to hear the excuse that the Judge would give for her staying there, likely some sort of insult to humans, maybe even a remark about how she'd be likely to trip or something due to weak human limbs or something.

"Doctor?" Emma called and they turned to look at her, sitting on the chair, pale, with the wires on her head, a coat bundled around her as the air grew colder, looking a bit frightful but trying not to let it show, "Will it hurt?"

"No," he answered quickly, till the Judge elbowed him in the side, making him sigh, she was right though, it wasn't fair to lie to Emma about this. She would need to know the truth so that, when the pain hit, she didn't rip the wires off her head, "Well, yes. Probably. A bit. Well, quite a lot. I don't know. It might be agony. To be perfectly honest, I'll be interested to find out."

Emma swallowed hard at that but took a breath, closing her eyes and starting to focus, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible, "I'm talking to the lost soul that abides in this place. I'm speaking to Hila Tacorian..."

The clocks ticking around the room began to get louder, some speeding up, some reversing, some freezing in place, signaling that it was all starting to happen, to work. Clara hurried over to the Time Lords, one end of the rope from the winch in hand, divided at the end with two hooks on it, and quickly attached it to the back of their harnesses. An electrical whizzing noise sounded and Emma's eyes snapped open, the disk appearing on the other end of the room, starting to spin right before the small pathway to the next room, right where the Doctor had felt a cold spot earlier. It spun faster and faster, the cracks that had begun to appear downstairs appearing once more, but growing bigger and bigger as it moved till the entire thing shattered, releasing a gust of wind and a bright light, opening the portal to the pocket universe.

"See?" the Doctor called over the noise of the winds and crackling to the Major, "The Witch of the Well! It's a wormhole! A reality well! A door to the echo universe!"

"Emma!" the Judge looked over at her, "Are you ready!?"

"READY!" she cried, squinting right into the light.

The Time Lords looked at each other and nodded, the Doctor reaching out to hold his hand out to the Judge, smiling when she took it and squeezed it, "Geronimo," he whispered to her, squeezing her hand back before the two of them ran for the wormhole and jumped right through…

The Judge closed her eyes against the blinding white of the wormhole, scrunching them and holding onto the Doctor and the rope behind her as tightly as she could till she stumbled, the Doctor letting out a breathy 'whoa!' from beside her as they landed on solid ground. She opened her eyes to see they were in a dimly lit forest, mist and fog around them. They glanced at each other before quickly pulling their harnesses off before bolting into the forest. A moment later they skid to a halt, the Doctor having stopped sooner and putting an arm out to his side to push her back, away from the edge of a cliff they nearly toppled over, the Judge grabbing the back of his coat to pull him back and away from it as well. They panted at that near call, glancing over the side of it to see that the pocket universe appeared to be like an island floating in space, the edge literally dropped into nothing, the edge of the universe it seemed.

They spun around, hoping that this meant the pocket universe would be relatively small, but it still meant that they had to find Hila. The Doctor took her hand and they ran off, back into the woods, both of them shouting out for Hila as loudly as they could…

…which probably wasn't the best thing to do when a soft growl drifted to them, causing them to stop in their tracks. They tensed, listening intently, hearing a scuttling noise, a whooshing, behind them. They spun around, trying to see what it was, but there was nothing. They turned quickly, catching sight of a shadow racing through the trees.

The Doctor started to step in that direction but the Judge pulled him back, "Are you mad!?" she hissed at him,.

"It…" he tried to defend.

"Whatever that was, it isn't Hila, SHE has to be our priority!" she reminded him, "Come on!" she turned and hurried him off, partly to try and find Hila, partly to get away from whatever that scuttling creature was.

"Help me!" they could hear in the distance, a voice that sounded like a young woman, calling out to them through the fog, "Help!"

"That way!" the Judge ran off, half pulling the Doctor along…till the two of them nearly slammed right into Hila as she ran out of the fog ahead of them.

"Ah!" the Doctor cheered, "Hila Tacorian, I presume," before he grabbed her hand and turned to try and lead her off.

"Who are you?!" Hila pulled her hand away, staring at them suspiciously.

"We're here to rescue you," the Judge held up a hand to quiet the Doctor a moment, knowing he'd either ramble and waste time or end up trying to save time by giving incomplete thoughts that would only make Hila less trusting of them, "Now come!" she tried to grab Hila's hand as well.

"There's something in the mist…" Hila tried to warn them.

"Then run!" the Doctor huffed, gesturing her to run as they turned, "Run!" and pushed her off to get her going, he and the Judge moving slightly ahead to lead back to the harnesses, "I see what you mean, dear!" he called to the Judge as they ran, "Humans sometimes," he shook his head, sometimes, _sometimes_, they wasted more time than he did.

"Doctor!" a voice shouted to them through the fog, echoing from above them, Emma's, "Judge! Come home. Come home!"

They ran to a small set of rocks that the two Time Lords were certain they'd left the harnesses at, the Doctor spinning around trying to work out where they'd gone for they clearly weren't there any longer, "Not that way. Which means... probably..."

"What's wrong?" Hila panted.

"It seems our means of extraction have disappeared," the Judge closed her eyes a moment, hunching over with her hands on her knees, trying to get more air in her.

They all tensed, hearing the scampering sounds of the creature behind them. They glanced at each other for a single moment before looking behind them.

"Doctor!" Emma's voice made them jump and spin in another direction, "Judge! Hurry!"

"This way!" the Doctor pointed in that direction and led them off, following Emma's voice as it called out to them.

"Come home! We're here!"

"Whoa!" the Doctor paused a moment in his run, staring ahead as the fog cleared only slightly…revealing the Caliburn House standing before them.

"What's that?" Hila frowned, never having seen that there before.

"An echo house, in an echo universe."

"More over…an escape from an echo universe," the Judge gave the Doctor a small smile.

"Clever psychic, eh?" he grinned widely at her, hoping that THIS might have impressed her enough to try and form some sort of fondness for humans.

"Clever would have been leaving our escape where it was," the Judge shook her head, "Come on!" she turned and started to run off, the Doctor beside her with Hila behind.

"Judge!" Emma's voice started to take on a pained note, "Doctor!"

They burst through the doors of the house the second they reached them, slamming them shut behind them, locking them just as something large and angry slammed against it from behind, snarling at them…the creature.

The Doctor took a deep breath and concentrated, leaning his ear against the door, listening to the creature, "It's looking for a way in…"

"Then we need to find our way OUT," the Judge reminded him.

He nodded, taking her hand, jumping back from the doors as the creature slammed against it once more, "The music room!" he turned, leading her up the stairs, pushing Hila ahead of them, guiding her to the music room, exactly where the wormhole had reappeared, and shutting that door behind them as well…though with one problem…there was no lock on the door.

"Clever would be putting a lock in," the Judge grumbled as she and the Doctor leaned against the door, hearing a thump against it, feeling it start to move as the creature reached them, trying to break in, the two of them holding it closed.

"Grab the rope," the Doctor told Hila, nodding at the harness that was lying before them, two harnesses there, but they knew that it would take more to winch up two people instead of just one, and, right now, two people were needed for the door, "Give it three tugs! Quick as you like!"

"What about you two?" Hila asked them even as she put the one harness on.

"We'll be next," the Doctor reassured her as she tugged three times, the two of them watching as she was yanked up and through the wormhole. He winced as the thudding behind them grew more forceful, more recurring, sounding very much like the thudding from the house, "Oh, that's what that noise was! Lovely."

"THAT, however, isn't so lovely," the Judge breathed as the light of the wormhole flickered…and disappeared.

"What?!" the Doctor gaped, "No!" he grabbed the Judge's hand and pulled her off the door, intent to run towards the wormhole, do something to get them through it…only for them to step right into the forest once more, the entire house gone as was the creature.

But the creature was still nearby, they could hear it, scuttling about, whooshing as it ran between the trees, making it FAR more eerie with the fog and darkness and creaking. The Judge swallowed hard and squeezed the Doctor's hand tightly. He merely put his free hand onto hers, rubbing it slightly, not even wincing at just how tightly she was holding his hand, he'd endured FAR more tight a hold (like when she'd given birth to their first child) and this was more one of fright than pain, this he could bear.

"It'll be alright," he whispered to her, tugging her closer, feeling her growing more tense and nervous about this. The woods, even knowing it was a real and physical creature and not a ghost, the woods were haunting and creepy and they would NOT sooth her nerves at all. He slowly looked around, "Where are you…" he murmured, trying to spot the creature.

"Judge?" a voice called through the woods, quieter than before, more filled with pain than before, filled with a knowing fright, but still familiar, Emma, she was calling to them again, "Doctor? Can you hear me? Hello!? Can you hear me?!"

"There!" the Doctor pointed, running in the direction of the voice, pulling the Judge with him, not daring to stop, not daring to let the creature have time to catch up to them, he would NOT allow that thing to attack the Judge.

"Doctor! Judge! We're here. Come home!"

"The house!" the Judge gasped as they saw it again, the two of them bolting for it faster than they'd ever run, knowing that the universe they were in was likely to collapse at any moment the longer they were there. She squeezed the Doctor's hand, hearing the snarling sound behind them, sensing his thoughts shifting, seeing his plans forming in his mind, "Don't you DARE!" she threatened him, nearly digging her nails into his hand to keep her grip on his hand tighter, keeping him running.

He was planning to send her ahead, to stop and confront the creature, to buy her time. But she refused to allow that to happen. They entered this universe together they would LEAVE it together as well.

Unfortunately, it appeared that the beast was not about to let them do that as they both fell to the ground moments later, having been tackled by the creature itself. The Doctor shifted till he was nearly on top of the Judge, both of them on their backs, trying to shield her with himself as they stared at the gray creature that looked like a skeleton covered in melting flesh. He could feel the Judge's hands curling into the fabric at the back of his jacket, trying to shift him to the side, not wanting him to be in danger because of her, not wanting him to get attacked first or at all…

But suddenly a light flashed in the sky and a bright blue police telephone box appeared, racing towards them, wheezing in strain, but flying! The Doctor laughed as it slammed into the creature, knocking it off of them, and quickly scrambled to his feet, yanking the Judge up with him as the TARDIS began to fly towards them once more. They ran after it, needing to get to it before the creature, and jumped, grabbing hold of it as it passed, the world turning white around them…

~8~

The light suddenly dimmed as the Time Lords opened their eyes to find themselves pressed against the TARDIS, clinging to it, as they appeared in the Caliburn house, the real one, in the music room, in the doorway right where the wormhole used to be. They let out a breath for a moment, relieved they'd survived, before the Doctor turned to the Judge and pulled her into a tight hug, burying his face in her neck, his hearts racing even as she hugged him back, reminding him they were both there, that they were both ok.

They pulled away a moment later, the Doctor touching her cheek, just looking at her face, making sure she was really ok, letting out another breath when she nodded. He leaned in, hesitating only a split second before he lifted his head slightly and pressed a kiss to her forehead, resting his forehead to hers and breathing out again, just taking a moment to revel in the fact that they were both back in the right universe and alive.

He looked back when he heard the door to the TARDIS open and stepped back, taking her hand and guiding her around the side of the TARDIS to see Emma, the Major, and Hila were there, the two checking on Emma, while Clara stood in the doorway of the TARDIS.

"Did you try to fly the TARDIS into a pocket Universe?" the Judge frowned at Clara.

"I don't know much about the flying part," Clara smiled widely, "I think your box did that, I was more clinging to the rails, but…yeah," she beamed, laughing, "I did!"

"Don't ever do that," the Judge warned, "Unless you actually know HOW to fly a TARDIS, you don't EVER try to get her to fly, understood?"

She recalled it, the stories the Doctor told her, of when his companions would try to get the TARDIS to fly, to go somewhere for them, even it if was to rescue the Doctor, it was DANGEROUS. Look at what happened with Rose! Humans had to be guided, there had to be quite a few of them, to even be able to TRY to fly the box and what Clara did? Not only was it stupid, it was dangerous to Clara, AND to them AND the TARDIS herself! What if something had gone wrong, what if the TARDIS began to lose track of how to get back? What if it ended up trapped there? ONE more second in that universe and it would have died.

The Judge bit the inside of her lip at that, a harsh reality hitting her not of what it would mean for them if the TARDIS died…but what it would mean for the Doctor.

She shook her head, shooting Clara a look, before she pushed her way out of the room, Emma frowning as she watched her pass, a curious look on her face.

The Doctor sighed and rubbed the side of his head, looking at Clara who was now frowning deeply at what the Judge had said, "It's dangerous Clara," was all he could offer her, "Things HAVE gone wrong in the past, when humans try to pilot the TARDIS."

"I just wanted to help," Clara whispered.

"I know," he offered her a smile, "Thanks for that," he held up his hand to her.

Clara gave a weak smile, high-fiving him as he intended, just as the first rays of sunlight began to filter through the windows.

~8~

The Doctor smiled as he stood beside the Judge, a small smile but a smile none the less, as the two of them basked in the sunlight streaming through the large windows of Caliburn house, watching as Clara, Hila, and the Major walked about outside. The house was easier to handle now that it was daylight, now that there was light and no creaking and no shadows and no rain. He knew that the Judge LOVED houses like this, large ones, with big windows, and spacious rooms, staircases and narrow hallways that made the rooms bigger. But she hated the ones that appeared truly haunted at night. It was quite a paradox with her how much she both loved and hated houses like that.

"You wanted a word?" Emma's voice spoke behind them, making them turn.

"Well, if that's..." the Doctor began.

"That's fine," Emma nodded, eyeing them both with a small smile, as though she'd worked out something about them, "You didn't come here for the ghost, did you?"

"Not originally," the Judge sighed, "Though it WAS a part of what made it be _right_ here and now that we sought you out."

"Don't you mean, that made HIM seek me out?" Emma laughed, "You didn't want to come," she told the Judge knowingly.

"No," she agreed.

"Why DID you want to seek me out?" she wasn't quite sure about that though.

"I…needed to ask you something," the Doctor admitted.

"Then ask."

"Clara…" he took a breath, glancing at the Judge, who nodded him to continue, and back to Emma, "What is she?"

Emma frowned at that, completely thrown, of all the things she thought the Doctor would ask, CLARA was the last person she expected it to be about, especially with all the emotions raging in the woman beside him, "She's a girl."

"Yes, but what kind of girl? Specifically."

"She's a perfectly ordinary girl," Emma shook her head, "Very pretty, very clever, more scared than she lets on…"

"Aren't they all," the Judge muttered.

Emma looked right at her for that, for the tone of her voice, but the Doctor just seemed lost in thought, nodding along, which made Emma frown more. He really had come there to ask about Clara? And NOT about the Judge? He was her husband, of all people HE should know that the Judge was hiding rather important emotions from him…

"And that's it, is it?" the Doctor asked.

"Why?" Emma eyed him, "Is that not enough?"

The Doctor just smiled, glancing over his shoulder at the human trio out the window, before turning to head down the hall towards the doors that led outside.

The Judge, who had been about to follow him the moment he turned, paused, Emma's hand on her arm, subtle, so that the Doctor wouldn't notice, and waited till he was gone before looking at Emma.

"You shouldn't keep it bottled up," Emma told her softly.

"Keep what bottled up?" the Judge shook her head, feigning ignorance.

But Emma smiled knowingly, "You know exactly what," she murmured, her gaze flickering through the window to the Doctor as he spoke with Clara, "It'll hurt them both if you keep this to yourself," she looked back at the Judge, "They NEED to know, you all need to talk about this…"

The Judge pulled her hand away, "You don't know a thing about it Emma," she told her, not harshly, but more resigned, "It…" she swallowed, "It's been between me and the Doctor for centuries. If he hasn't realized by NOW, he never will."

"He WILL though," Emma warned, "Because it's getting to be too much, isn't it? Having HER there?" her gaze flickered to Clara once more and back, "It'll build up, Judge, and it WILL explode. You aren't the same woman you were when all this first started, are you?" she tilted her head, knowing she hit the nail on the head with how the Judge looked away, "The more YOU change, the more your feelings will, the more they fester, the more violent it'll be when it comes out. And it will come out," she stepped back, starting to head down the hall towards the doors, "Emotions like that always do."

The Judge watched Emma disappear through the doors, joining the others outside, the Major walking over to look at the TARDIS while Emma approached and hugged Hila, the Doctor joining in the hug as Clara laughed. Her eyes focused more on the Doctor and Clara as they stepped back to let Hila and Emma speak, watching the two of them for a moment before letting out a long breath, closing her eyes to rub her forehead with a hand. She shook her head, Emma was right, she DID need to speak to them but…not now. Her nerves were shot from the house and the 'ghost' and all she wanted to do was just sleep for a while. She didn't want to have the conversation she knew she had to have with each of them when she was so irritable and tense and tired, she didn't WANT to blow up at them, and she knew the topic of conversation would be volatile enough. She needed to be calm and rational when it happened.

No, not right now, but soon.

She nodded to herself, taking a deep breath before she too headed outside, making her way towards the small group of humans and the Doctor, just managing to catch the end of the conversation between Hila and Emma.

"…you haven't even been born yet," Emma was saying.

"No, you can't have met," the Doctor interrupted, giving the Judge an idea of what the two women had been speaking of just before, "But she can be your great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter," he grinned as the Major joined them, "Yours too, of course! But you'd guessed that already, hadn't you?"

The Judge let out a small laugh seeing the utterly stunned look on both Emma and the Major's faces as they looked at each other, "I don't think they did dear."

"Oh…apologies," the Doctor's smile turned sheepish.

"The paradoxes..." the Major began to sputter.

"You didn't listen to a word I said before about them, did you?" the Judge sighed.

"They resolve themselves, by and large," the Doctor reminded him, "That's why the psychic link was so powerful, blood calling to blood," he gestured between Emma and Hila, "Out of time. Not everything ends, eh?" he clapped the Major on his shoulder as he passed, "Not love," he smiled at the Judge, taking her hand and smiling at her as he started to lead them both towards the TARDIS, ready to head out, "Not always."

"Doctor," the Major rushed after them, Clara not far behind, "What about…what about...us? Emma and me?"

"What about you?" the Doctor looked at him, lost.

"Well, what's supposed to happen? I mean, what do we do now?"

"Conceive Hila's ancestors?" the Judge suggested, a small smirk on her face when Emma joined them, "Shouldn't be hard, you humans are like rabbits."

The Doctor laughed at that as the Major's face turned red in a flush, "Hold hands," he offered a slightly less embarrassingly private suggestion, holding up the hand he was holding of the Judge's, "That's what you're meant to do. Keep doing that and don't let go," he quickly kissed the Judge's hand, as though doing so that fast would keep her or the others from noticing, and lowered it, "That's the secret," he winked at them, pointing between the two humans before he turned and headed for the TARDIS once more, "Best to never be alone eh?" he smiled at the Judge, thinking about how he'd thought of her often when they'd been separated by his travels and Torchwood and…

He stopped short, his eyes widening as another thought hit him, "I'm so... slow!" he smacked his head and spun around, not quite letting go of the Judge's hand, getting his arm half-tangled and crossed as he moved, "I am slow, I'm notorious for it, that's always been my problem, but I get there in the end. Oh, yes."

"What's going on?" Clara shook her head as she joined them.

"How do sharks make babies?" the Doctor asked suddenly.

Clara blinked and looked at the Judge, but she shook her head, "Not even I have a clue what he's going on about."

Clara frowned at that and offered, "Carefully?"

"No, no, no, happily!" he cheered.

"Sharks don't actually smile. They're just...well, they've got lots and lots of teeth, they're quite eaty."

"Exactly!" he laughed, "But birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it. Every lonely monster needs a companion," he nodded, and spun back around, uncrossing his arms and gesturing at the house, pointing to a specific window when he spotted what was lurking on the other side of it.

Another one of the creatures.

"There's two of them?!" Clara gaped.

"Of course…" the Judge muttered, not condescendingly, but as though she were too realizing that, as though it should have been obvious to all of them the entire time and not just coming through now.

"It's the oldest story in the universe," the Doctor chuckled, subconsciously tugging the Judge closer, winding his arm around her waist, "This one, or any other. Boy and girl fall in love, get separated by events, war, politics, accidents in time. She's thrown out of the HEX, or he's thrown into it. Since then they've been yearning for each other across time and space, across dimensions. This isn't a ghost story, it's…"

"A love story," the Judge realized.

"And this will NOT be a sad one," the Doctor decided, whipping around, finally letting go of the Judge's hand as he ran back to where Hila, Emma, and the Major were speaking, focusing on Emma, "Excuse me! Excuse me! Sorry to interrupt the rest of your life. So...tiny favor to ask..."

~8~

The Doctor grinned widely as he shut the door of the TARDIS, having just dropped Clara off back with the Maitlands. They'd had one last mini-adventure to see to at the end of their trip to the Caliburn house. The Doctor had needed to open the portal back to the pocket universe, wanting to help the other creature back to its love in the house. HE had gone through this time, just him, while the Judge had piloted the TARDIS to go pick them both up, not quite sure how they'd get the creature through the wormhole. It was different, she'd muttered to Clara, when someone who actually KNEW how to fly the TARDIS brought it to the pocket universe, though they didn't want to do it, it was safer for a Time Lord to do so, they could get in and out quicker actually piloting the box instead of clinging to the rails.

They'd even managed to find the two creatures' home world and get them back to their clans, had even given Hila a place to fit in, bringing her to Torchwood, knowing that Jack would be able to help a lost time traveler adapt as he had to the modern world and also keep an eye on her to make sure she wouldn't alter something that shouldn't be. They'd had to half pry Clara away from meeting Captain Jack, but now that she was home, they could finally relax.

He pulled a lever as he reached the console, sending the box into the Vortex, before he spun around and leaned on the console, facing the Judge as she sat on the stairs, rather reversed positions now that he thought about it. He crossed his arms and eyed her a moment, "What's wrong?" he asked her quietly, "And don't say nothing," he added, "Back there, in that house, you were more scared than I've ever seen you in a 'haunted house' and talking about ghosts," he waited a moment as she remained silent, "What's changed?"

"What hasn't changed?" she let out a small scoffing laugh, not an unkind one, but more just tired, before letting out a long breath, "I'm a different woman now Theta," she reminded him, "Perhaps this new me is just less…calm about those things."

He tilted his head, holding her gaze till she looked away, and shook his head, "It's not that," he determined.

She rolled her eyes slightly at that, but there was no real emotion or irritation in the movement, she knew she'd been caught out, "I just…" she sighed, "Ever since the War I don't…I don't do well thinking about ghosts or dealing with them."

"The war," he realized, knowing that, of anything in the universe that would affect her this much, it WOULD be that.

"Yeah," she smiled sadly, "I just…ghosts are the past coming back to haunt and I don't…" she swallowed hard, "I don't want that past to rear its head again. I don't…" she looked away, tears in her eyes, "Our children are dead," she stated, her voice cracking, "And all I can think about is…their ghosts. Ghosts are people, souls that haven't moved on and…when I hear ghosts I think of our children and I think would they blame me?"

"Why would they blame you?" he moved over to her, kneeling down before her and taking her hands in his, frowning up at her.

"I couldn't protect them," she whispered, "They were my babies and I couldn't protect them, they died because I wasn't there to keep them safe…" her voice cracked more as the tears began to fall, "I felt them die."

He swallowed hard as well, feeling his own tears building at her words, "Me too," he murmured, squeezing her hands. He'd felt it too, not as powerfully as she had, for all his children at least, he had felt their last child die, he'd been on world then. But…before that, he'd been off world, he'd been running, he'd been too far away to feel it. He'd only felt one die, she'd felt all three, and he hated himself for that when he realized his children were dead and he'd been off fleeing instead of fighting beside them, protecting them.

He hated himself even more to know that he HAD had a chance in the past to end the Daleks before they could reach this point and he'd mucked it up.

The war happened because he hadn't stopped the Daleks before.

"We both…" he stopped his words, not about to say that it was both their fault, because they both knew it already, and even if it wasn't true, they both felt it and NOTHING would convince them otherwise that they'd failed in their duty as parents, so he went another route, "Our children were adults, Carah," he rubbed his thumbs over the back of her hands, "They chose to fight in the war, they chose to protect THEIR children, they knew the dangers and the risks, they wanted to fight with us. We…they would have hated us if we had begrudged them the chance to protect their own families. They wanted to do this, to help, to protect, they knew they might not make it, it was a risk every single one of us had to take."

"They shouldn't have died though," the Judge sobbed, "Parents shouldn't have to mourn their children…"

"I know," he nodded, tears falling from his eyes now as he got up and moved beside her on the stairs, gathering her in his arms and holding her close, "I know."

It wasn't much, but there was nothing that could be said, no words that could ever offer comfort for something like this. He understood now, why the notion of ghosts had literally haunted her so much more now. It reminded her of the past, of the souls of their children, of being haunted by the knowledge that she hadn't been enough to protect them, that she'd failed them, just as he had failed them all. Ghosts were the failures of the past coming back to plague you…and they both had more than enough of that.

"I miss them Theta, I miss my babies," she cried harder, "I love them so much and they're...they're just gone. They're not coming back. We've lost them."

"I know," he repeated, rocking her slowly in his arms as she cried, his own tears falling as they mourned the loss of their children, the lights of the TARDIS dimming as though the box too were mourning with them.

There was nothing that could be done to ease this pain.

Nothing at all.

All they could do was try to survive it, to endure it, as best they could.

Together.

A/N: I can't apologize enough for the lack of updates :'( I think I semi-turned into a koala the last week, I wasn't feeling well at all, I literally think I slept 22 hours a day for 4 days straight. I only started feeling better Sunday night and barely got 2 pages edited yesterday. I felt better this morning and I just really wanted to get this chapter up. I'm hoping I'll keep feeling better and that I'll be able to update every other day as planned :)

As for the spinoffs, I want to have them all updated by the end of Series 8 so I'm going to try and get them up this month. Maybe like the 5th for TAOSAT, the 15th for Recollections, and the 25th for AAO while the 10th is UNIT Files, 20th is IYC, and the 30th is Dragon's Fire (like normal) :)

For this chapter though, such a sad ending :'( I cried writing it :( But I feel like they needed this sort of sad breakdown moment, to really understand that ghosts aren't just things in a house but memories and how they make you feel haunted by the past. For the Judge, the ghosts represented the loss of her children :'(

I can say that what Emma said to the Judge will be dealt with very soon }:)

Some notes on reviews...

I think it's mostly because I do have the ideas for the chapters in the spinoffs planned for about 5 chapters more for each story and since I've put them on hold so often in the past already. But thank you :) I'm thinking I'm going to try to put less 'this is the day it will be up' and more 'I'll try for this month' or something so that it's less pressure :)

That's exactly how I was hoping it would come across! Thanks! :) She's definitely not objective. I sort of feel like a majority of the Time Lords feel the same about humans, and the Doctor and a small minority actually think they're advanced for their species lol :) I can actually say that that is a very small part of why she dislikes humans, but at the same time, also has a large role in why she dislikes humans. It's complicated lol, but I'm going to do my best when it fully comes out what her issues with humans are very soon ;)

We'll find out very soon why the Judge doesn't care for Clara ;)

The intro is growing on me slightly, I like the stars and planets, but I'm not really a fan of the clocks and things...which is odd because they're Time Lords and clocks are sort of big with time lol :)


	21. Journey to the Center of the TARDIS - P1

Journey to the Center of the TARDIS - Part 1

The Judge was sitting on one of the side chairs of the TARDIS console room, watching with barely a turn of her head left to right as the Doctor followed Clara around the console itself, the girl with her arms crossed, in a cutesy dress, seeming rather irritated, while the Doctor tried to reprimand her for something as he walked after her. They'd just been going through some of the security footage from the cameras outside the TARDIS, reviewing them as there had been a poster stuck to the TARDIS when they'd gone to collect Clara and the Doctor wanted to know who put it there. It wasn't a bad poster, it was for some sort of concert in the park event or something, but he was all pouty faced about someone sticking something to the TARDIS like that and wanted to know who it was. But it appeared the TARDIS had other things in mind and had shown them footage from when they'd been at the Caliburn house, how Clara had, after they'd gotten trapped in the pocket universe, run to the TARDIS, tried to break in…and then called a projection of the TARDIS a cow.

The TARDIS was rather cross about it, they could imagine, and Clara had instantly tried to defend herself, that she was under stress, that it was the situation, that she was sorry, but it wasn't assuaging the TARDIS and the Doctor was still trying to wrap his mind around how Clara could call something as cool as the TARDIS a human farm animal.

In this one case, the Judge could understand Clara snapping at the TARDIS, she did it often enough herself when it came to humans.

"You said..." the Doctor sputtered, still trying to understand it all.

"I know what I said!" Clara huffed, "I was the one who said it."

"You had to know we'd find out Clara," the Judge gave her a look, "Even if the box can't talk it does have other ways of communicating to us. How else would we know why she doesn't like you?"

"You said it was looking at you funny," the Doctor added with a frown, he still didn't know why the TARDIS seemed to think that Clara was a threat of some sort.

Well, to be fair, THEY didn't know much about Clara either, she very well COULD be a threat to them. Perhaps the TARDIS knew something that they didn't, perhaps she was trying to communicate WHAT Clara was to them through her hostility to the girl, but they couldn't be entirely sure. If she was THAT much of a threat…the TARDIS wouldn't have ever let her into the box in the first place.

"I was tired," Clara rolled her eyes, having repeated this defense near a hundred times by now, or so it felt, "Overwrought. I didn't mean it. It's an appliance. It does a job."

"It's a pretty cool appliance," the Doctor gave the console a firm pat, "We're not talking cheese grater here!"

"Oh just apologize to her Clara," the Judge sighed, she wanted to get this adventure over with, wherever the Doctor planned to go this time. She just wanted to get out there, have it, and drop Clara off at the Maitlands again.

"You're not getting me to talk to your ship," Clara half-balked at the 'absurd' idea, "That's properly bonkers."

"You DO know he is a madman with a box, yes?" the Judge shook her head, wondering, at what point, the Doctor talking to the box didn't seem bonkers to Clara.

The Doctor, however, pouted at Clara's assertion and turned to rub the rotor comfortingly, as though trying to sooth some sort of slight to the box instead of realizing it was a slight against his own mental health, "It's ok, it's ok…"

"HE does it all the time obviously," the Judge gestured at the Doctor as though that were ample proof.

Clara just shook her head, pausing in her walk to spin and face the Doctor, eyeing him with a hint of amusement, "You're like one of those guys who can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves."

"No, no, not like that," the Doctor straightened, "One of the blokes that won't go out without his wife's approval," he winked at the Judge.

"That's because you NEED my approval to go out," she reminded him.

"What?" Clara looked between them.

"On Gallifrey," the Judge sighed, "It's customary for one spouse to gain permission from the other if they want to leave the planet for an extended time."

"What, you can't leave home without the wife's approval?" Clara blinked at that.

"I DID say spouse, didn't I?" the Judge stared at her, "Pay attention."

Clara rolled her eyes at that, "Fine, husband needs wife's sign off, wife needs husband's, yes?"

"Yes."

"And that is not the point of this conversation," the Doctor, for once, was the one to remind them of the topic, "Look, Clara, it's important to me you get along with the TARDIS. She's our home."

The Judge looked away at that, at how his focus was, once more on the TARDIS and the box's relationship with Clara. He knew, very well, that SHE didn't have the best one with the girl, but right now he was more concerned with their ship than her. She supposed it was because the box couldn't really communicate and, while she may not seem to want Clara there, SHE wasn't at risk of throwing Clara out the doors like the TARDIS very well could doo with a good shake.

"I could leave you alone together," the Doctor offered, not noticing the Judge's reaction.

"Now you're creeping me out," Clara warned, shaking her head and stepping back slightly, starting to walk around the console once more.

"Take the wheel," the Doctor called out with a smile, before wincing, realizing there wasn't an actual wheel to take, "Not the wheel. I'll make it easy, shut it down to basic mode for you…" he spun around and began to put some commands in as the Judge stood.

"Please tell me you're not actually about to let a human pilot the TARDIS, Doctor," she moved over to him, speaking quietly.

"Ok, I won't," he grinned at her, leaning in to give her a quick peck on the cheek, before focusing in on the controls once more, making her roll her eyes at that.

"Basic!" Clara almost sounded offended by that as she made her way over to them, "'Cos I'm a girl?"

"Just what gender do you think I am?" the Judge gave Clara a look that clearly said she was being dim.

Clara huffed, "Well I don't know, YOU're the aliens."

"Only on Earth," the Judge reminded her, "In HERE," she gestured around at the ship that was of THEIR world, "YOU are the alien. And you don't see me calling you a boy. I'm not Strax."

"Who?" Clara frowned at that, not sure who this Strax person was.

"Never mind," the Judge shook her head and moved to the other side of the console, helping get the controls for that side down to basic as well. If they were really going to do this, they needed to do it properly.

The Doctor had a small smile on his face as he watched them bicker, he was hoping that, maybe their little verbal spars might turn into just that, bickering, a playful bickering and not barbing, so far…not quite, but there was hope! He knew there were many more things that the Judge could have said in response to that but she'd just waved it off and gone to help him. He reached out and pulled a key from his pocket, sticking it into a slot on the console and turning it, dimming the lights slightly, shutting off half the controls so that only the ones that were of the most basic function would be illuminated.

"Here, here, come here," he gestured for Clara to come over, the Judge stepping past him to the side controls to help, "Now, to start the ship moving, you have to turn the coordinators on," he pointed, "That switch there."

Clara eyed him a moment and back to the switch before reaching out to flick it…

Only for the lights to turn off and then start flashing red, which she knew, in any Universe was likely NOT a good thing.

"What have I done?" she looked at him, frantic.

"For once, nothing," the Judge hurried over to the Doctor's side, moving the monitor to them to try and see what was going on, but there was nothing…the monitor wasn't operational on basic. She reached out and turned the key back, starting the monitor up once more, but it just began to crack, "Doctor!"

He rushed over, his eyes widening as he saw that, saw the screen that had only just started to display their position breaking down and going static.

"What's going on?" Clara frowned at their tense expressions.

The Doctor shook his head and quickly began to try and turn some of the knobs, hit the switches, move the levers, but they weren't responding, "All the electrical impulses are jammed. I can't get the shields back up," he tried to push another lever down, struggling to do so, grunting before he gave up, looking at the Judge for help, "She's completely vulnerable!"

"I swear I just touched it!" Clara cried as the Judge moved to the lever as well, the two Time Lords trying to shove it down and only just barely managing.

But all it succeeded in doing was sending sparks up and making the TARDIS jolt painfully, throwing them all into the controls and the rails and the floor.

The Doctor hissed as his back hit the railing, before using it to push himself off it, back to the console, glancing over to see that the Judge had landed on the floor by Clara's feet, the human half falling on top of the side controls but still standing, "Judge!" he shouted to her over the sound of the alarms going off and fires erupting, explosions going off around them, "Magnetic hobble-field. We're flying right into it."

The Judge nodded, pushing herself up, "Clara assume the position!" she grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her towards the back of the console room, near the stairs but by the edge of the side controls, pushing her down to a crouch just below the rim of the controls.

"Please tell me there's a button you can press to fix this!" Clara called to them as the Time Lords rushed to get everything back in order or at least calm.

"Oh, yes," the Doctor yelled over the din, "Big friendly button."

"You're lying."

"Of course he is!" the Judge sounded nearly at a snapping mood.

"To stop me freaking out?" Clara chose to focus on the Doctor instead.

"Is it working?" he glanced over.

"Not so much," Clara winced as a small explosion went off nearby, looking down when she heard a clatter on the ground to see what looked like a grenade roll over to her. She quickly picked it up, dropping it nearly just as fast when it burned her hand. She looked up only a split second before a massive explosion went off between the Time Lords, sending them all flying back as their worlds went dark…

~8~

The Doctor winced as he slowly came to, his hand flying to his head and holding it as he struggled to open his eyes against the bright lights of…wherever he was now because it certainly wasn't the TARDIS. For one, even though he didn't know every single room the TARDIS had to it, this room didn't feel like it. There was also the pile of rubbish and scrap he appeared to be lying in, none of it metals that were common for a TARDIS. And then there was the fact that he could hear three men speaking off to the side that he KNEW hadn't been in the TARDIS nor would the TARDIS allow in without him knowing.

He groaned to himself and pushed himself up, blinking slightly as he opened his eyes to see that he was in what looked like a large hanger, truly lying on a pile of rubbish and scrap as he'd thought, and he could see it. The TARDIS was a few feet away, lying on her side, and the three men, three large black men in the uniforms of scrapers, were standing just before it, arguing in what he was sure they meant to have as quiet voices, but he heard them.

"…crew were still onboard when we dragged her in!" the one that appeared to be the youngest of the trio stated.

"We did nothing," the not-quite-tallest-but-clearly-in charge of the lost hissed at the two others, "If anyone asks, that ship was already busted. You got that? And you," he glared at the younger boy, "Make sure you keep your oily-mouth shut."

The Doctor shook his head and pushed himself up, quietly making his way down to the three men, making sure that they wouldn't hear him coming till he was right behind them, "It's rude to whisper," he whispered to them in the same mock-quiet voices they had used, before smiling and speaking normally, "Hi. I'm the Doctor," he shook the taller man's hand, the only one that he hadn't heard speak yet, "And you are..." he squinted at the nametag logo that was sewn into the men's uniforms, "Van Baalen and...Van Baalen," he shook the leader's hand as well, "Van Baalen and Van Baalen. That's going to get confusing later. It's bad enough when the Judge and I both use Smith for our surname…and speaking of her," he frowned and turned to look back at the box, at the scrap, taking a step towards it to try and see if he could find her.

"We found you drifting," the leader said quickly, making him turn back, his frown deepening.

"Your ship was junked-up pretty bad," the taller man agreed.

The Doctor gave them a look that he was sure the Judge would have been quite pleased with, the look that clearly told the humans that they were being rather dim if they expected this to work, "What broke my ship was a magno-grab," he held up a device, a grenade-like device, for them to see, "Found this remote in your pocket. Eh? What are the chances? Outlawed in most galaxies. This little beastie can disable whole vessels unless you have shield oscillators…" he paused a moment, closing his eyes in realization as he slapped his forehead, "Which I turned off so that Clara could fly," he huffed, "Damn it!" he looked up the men, realizing that he was now missing two women, "Where are they?" he demanded.

"Who?" the leader frowned.

"Clara and the Judge? Brunettes, bout ye high," he gestured between two heights, "Brown eyes. One in a dress, the other in a green plaid shirt with brown trousers? One feisty, the other, well, judgey?" he shook his head, not sure why they weren't answering him, why they were staring at him like they hadn't a clue what he was talking about, why he couldn't feel the Judge's presence outside the TARDIS…

His eyes widened as he spun around to stare at the turned box in horror, the answer to that last question (well to all the questions) dawning on him.

"They're still onboard!"

He paused a moment, not sure if that was a good or bad thing that they were both onboard at the same time. It was good because the Judge would know what to do, she'd be able to keep Clara safe. But it was also bad because the Judge was bound to be short tempered, even more if she were injured (he winced to think of her hurt), and to leave her with Clara too long might mean that she'd kill the girl. Well, not really kill, but she might certainly demand that he leave her on earth after all this was over if she reached the end of her rope with Clara. He really DID have to talk to her about this, about what made her so testy about that particular human. She'd been just fine with Oswald and the other Clara…

But he had to get them out first and make sure they were both alive to HAVE that discussion, so he started to run for the box, only for the younger man to grab him and hold him back, "No, wait, your pod is leaking fuel. If they're still in there, they're dead."

"Um…" the Doctor spun around, feeling his hearts starting to race, a desperation to get back into that box and make sure they were alright, hitting him, and breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted storage lockers with boxes of useful items scattered around it, useful items such as, "Respirators!"

"We can open the doors for a split second," the leader nodded as the Doctor raced over to the devices and began to check them, "Reach in and grab them."

The Doctor scoffed at that, feeling a sense of irritation rising in him, wondering if he was just channeling the Judge even through the psychic shields of the TARDIS, or if she was rubbing off on him, he HAD noticed that in very stressful situations he DID have less tolerance of humans, and remarks like that, even when the humans truly didn't know the situation, were grating his nerves, because they were so wrong and to even answer it was to waste time, "Trust me, we can't. Now, please, help me get them out."

"I'm telling you, they fried..." the younger tried to speak.

"Shut it, tin-mouth!" the leader snapped, not even looking at the boy as he kept his gaze fixed on the Doctor, "What sort of fee are we talking?"

The Doctor sighed, rubbing his head, feeling a headache setting in, this was wasting time, but if it got them to help him and saved time later, he'd have to put up with the humans, "If you help me get the Judge and Clara out," he moved towards the TARDIS, "You get the machine, all the scrap, eh?"

The taller man shook his head, nearly sneering at the size of the box, "It's not worth the risk. Four feet of metal? Nah."

"What if I can guarantee you the best haul you've ever had?" the Doctor asked, desperation in his voice.

He was sure the Judge would kill him for offering the TARDIS in exchange for this, but…he'd lost her once, and…as much as he loved the TARDIS, he'd quickly realized in having her with him, she was his home. They'd lost their planet and he knew that the TARDIS was the last possible means of having a Gallifreyan home, or as close as they could have at the moment, but…the TARDIS or his wife? He was quite sure even the TARDIS would tell him to pick the Judge, even if his hearts had already decided.

He closed his eyes at that, it had taken him…so long, so very long to get to this realization, to this sense of peace that he had with the Judge, to realize he'd ALWAYS had it with her. It had taken losing his planet, losing his home, having her back, having her and the TARDIS with him to realize where he truly felt his home was.

And it wasn't a box, though he wished to not lose the box at all…he didn't want to lose his wife even more.

"Bram," the leader glanced at the taller man, "Open the bay doors."

Bram nodded and started to walk off to do just that, when the Doctor dashed to them, "No, no, please, stop!" he begged, "Listen, listen. Right behind those doors is the salvage of a lifetime."

He watched their faces closely, kept his gaze on them, wanting them to know he was telling the truth, and nearly sagged with relief when the leader gave a short nod to Bram, silently telling him to come back as the three men turned to suit up.

He let his eyes drift closed as he turned and put a hand on the TARDIS doors, just a few more moments and he'd be in there and be able to get them both back out. He could only imagine the damage that had been done, the sooner he could get them back the better.

~8~

The Judge groaned as she slowly woke to find herself lying on the floor of the red lit halls of the TARDIS, curled up on her side, facing the wall, what appeared to be a sheet of metal resting at an angle against the wall, making a small crawlspace for her. She blinked a few times to clear her vision before she tried to wiggle her way out of the space, not willing to risk trying to shove the metal away and have it crush her or hit her. But she winced, letting out a hiss of pain as a searing feeling raced up her left arm.

"Damn it!" she cursed, realizing she could hardly move her arm without pain shooting through her. It was probably broken from falling on it or from being slammed against something in the explosion.

She froze at that memory, she'd been standing nearer to Clara than the Doctor and, given that she couldn't hear the Doctor, it had to mean that he wasn't in the TARDIS at the moment. She grit her teeth and forced herself out of the small space, needing to see if Clara was nearby, if she was still in the box or outside it. She needed to know if she was going to have to waste her time trying to find Clara or if she could focus on getting somewhere safer. That explosion, granted she wasn't an expert on TARDISes, but she knew enough to know it had damaged things terribly. She pushed her way out of the space, knocking some small tubes to the side as she did so, grunting and wincing as she tried to stand, nearly stumbling into the wall as a wave of nausea and vertigo nearly leveled her. The pain in her arm was radiating through her, making her arm both tingle and throb.

She was just about to look around for something to help stabilize her arm, knowing she'd be no use to anyone if she was constantly distracted by her pain, when she spotted Clara's legs sticking out from under a piece of metal.

"Clara!" she called, rushing over to her, squatting down as much as she could, trying not to sway as the dizziness hit her again, and gripped the metal with her other hand, shoving it to the side and shaking Clara, "Clara!" she felt for a pulse and nearly sagged with relief when she felt one, "Clara wake up!" she shook the girl once more, eyeing her face and body for any signs of injury, but she appeared just knocked out, "Sorry for this," she muttered, before slapping Clara across the face.

It did the trick for Clara gasped and sat up with a start the second it happened, "Ow!" she cried, glaring at the Judge, "What was that for!?"

"I need you awake," the Judge nearly growled, her hand coming to grip her limp arm, that sudden motion from the slap had shaken her body and jolted her arm.

"Oh my stars!" Clara gasped, seeing the state the Judge was in. Her clothes were singed on the front, which made sense as she'd been nearer to the explosion, her hair was all a mess, and she could see bruises dotting the woman's skin, her arm especially looked rather painful, "What happened?! No!" she added quickly after, seeing the rather irate look the Judge was sending her, "Explosion, I know, sorry," she winced, realizing that was probably one of the stupidest questions she'd asked the Time Lords, even SHE thought it was stupid, "What can I do to help?" she offered instead.

"I need you to help me get my button up off," the Judge told her, and Clara's fingers flew to the buttons of her green plaid shirt, starting to undo them, knowing that the Judge wore a small tank top under it, and helped tug it off, "Now…we need to wrap my arm in it, and use the sleeves to tie it around my neck like a sling, ok?"

Clara nodded and went to work doing just that, "Funny," she murmured as she went, "My mum used to do this to me when I'd hurt my arm, made me a sling out of her shirt once."

"Yes, because a broken arm is so funny," the Judge grumbled, a hiss in her voice that was more from the pain of moving her arm than what Clara had said.

"Sorry," still Clara apologized.

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek hard as Clara tied the ends of the sleeves around her neck, securing the sling, "Thank you," she offered once it was done.

"No problem," Clara smiled a bit at that, at the genuine thanks.

The Judge took a deep breath and looked up and down the halls, they were covered in debris, broken panels, metal bits, wires exposed and sparking, the red emergency lights the only thing allowing them to see, "We need to find somewhere safer," she told Clara, "The console room, the medbay, just…somewhere with less rubble."

Clara nodded and reached out to help her stand, "Is the Doctor here?" she asked, looking around, "Is he ok?"

"He should be fine," the Judge murmured, "But I don't think he's in the TARDIS like we are," she glanced up as the cloister bell began to echo softly, as though the TARDIS were trying to communicate to her that the Doctor wasn't there, but it could mean any number of things, that bell, "Come on," she nodded to the side of the hall that appeared to have less debris. It might not lead exactly to the console room, but they'd be better spent taking the long way with less debris than going the other way and getting caught in sharp ends and jagged metal.

Clara nodded and moved to follow her, wincing as she looked down at her hand, seeing angry red burns on it from where she'd grabbed that thing before. She hadn't even noticed it had been burned till just then, too filled with shock and adrenaline at seeing the Judge hurt to notice. But now she did, and there wasn't much that could actually be done for it though. If the Judge had to fashion a sling from her shirt, then there was likely not much that could help her with a burn on her hand. So she took a breath and gently blew on it to cool it down, walking after the Judge a foot or two behind the woman.

"Judge?" she called after a moment, seeing a doorway, a shut doorway, with a red blinking light above it, "What about through here?"

The Judge glanced back, her eyes flickering to the lights and back to Clara, "Don't open it Clara," and continued on her way.

But Clara paused and looked at the door, "But what if it's a shortcut?"

"Blinking red light Clara," the Judge called back, not even turning this time, the answer should be obvious enough.

Clara looked up at the light, "Red flashing light...means something bad," she murmured to herself, "Get out of here fast? Or don't open this door?" she glanced back at the Judge, nearly out of eyesight and back at the door, what if it was a beacon that this was where you needed to go? Like a lighthouse in a storm? What if there was someplace safe behind the door? It may not be the console room, but maybe the console room wasn't the only safe place? The Judge was clearly in pain so she couldn't be thinking that straight, probably subconsciously wanted to find the medbay first.

She took a breath and hit the button, the doors sliding open…only to reveal an explosion on the other side, the fires of it heading right for her now that the door was open, "Bad decision!"

Suddenly she was shoved to the side, tackled really, by the Judge as the fires blasted out, the woman half covering her from the heat of the flames that weren't touching them but the warmth of it could be clearly felt. The Judge let out a strangled scream as she rolled onto her back seconds later, her hand coming up to clutch her slinged arm and Clara stared in horror realizing that, in tackling her, the Judge had basically landed on her broken arm. The pain would be excruciating.

"Oh my god," Clara scrambled to her side, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, what do I do?!"

"Don't TOUCH me!" the Judge nearly hissed at her, panting, sweating from the pain as she forced herself to sit up, cradling her arm to her as she gasped for breath, trying to control the pain, "And when I tell you NOT to open a damned door, you DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!"

"I'm sorry!" Clara repeated, tears in her eyes, "I just…I thought…"

"Gods!" the Judge snapped, more to herself as she turned and struggled to use the wall to stand, resting her back against it, her eyes closed from the pain of moving so suddenly, "Clara, if I tell you not to open a door. You don't do it. You are a human, you are not a Time Lord, you don't know this ship, so if I say leave it, you leave it! God you humans, I don't understand how he thinkg's you're WORTH this."

Clara tearful look morphed into one of anger now, all of it, everything just getting to her at that last remark. All the snipes by the Judge about her and humans, all the danger of the situation, all her trying to help and the Judge getting cross with her for it, and now this? She could put up with a lot, but she would NOT allow someone to say that she wasn't worth anything, "Then why'd you save me?" she snapped right back, "Why not just let that fire burn me then? If you're SO angry with me being here, why not just have let me die then? That would solve all your problems wouldn't it? That would make you happy to have me gone wouldn't it?"

"You have NO idea why I don't want you here Clara," the Judge glared right back.

"Cos I'm a human," Clara rolled her eyes, "And humans are worthless to you, aren't we? And if I'm not worth anything, you coulda just let me die."

"I couldn't," the Jude nearly growled, her hand clenching into a first.

"Why not?" Clara shook her head, half-shouting, not understanding this woman at all, "You clearly hate me. Hate me being a companion!"

"Whatever the cause, I can't let you be hurt."

"YOU hurt me all the time with your little digs!"

"But you're not physically harmed Clara!" she shouted, "I cannot let you be harmed like _that_! Why do you think I make those digs?! Because you, as the Doctor's companion, you need to be _better_ than that! Better than the other humans! The only way YOU seem to want to do it is when I insult you, you improve to prove me wrong!"

"Why?!" Clara frowned, not actually realizing that she DID tend to push herself more to sort of 'stick it' to the Judge and prove her assumptions about humans wrong, she knew the Judge said what she did to her to push her away, to make her leave, but she wasn't one to back down from something she wanted, she pushed harder and stayed to prove the woman that she couldn't just get her to quit that easy, "Why do _I_ have to be better?"

"Because you HAVE to survive!" the Judge yelled, "You, Clara Oswald,_ you_ need to be different than the others, you need to live! And that's on ME."

"What?" she scoffed, "You have to protect me?"

"Yes," the Judge gave her a hard look.

"But you don't even want me here!"

"No, I don't."

"Then why not just drop me off on Earth and leave me there?!"

"Because I can't!"

"Why not?!" Clara was near tears again, this was so confusing, she didn't want her there but she didn't want her gone? How did that work? It didn't, in any universe, make sense, "Why keep me here when you don't want me here!?"

"Because I promised to keep you safe and I can't do that when you're on Earth!"

"Well I'm sure the Doctor would understand breaking that promise."

"I didn't promise HIM that!"

"Well then who?!" she demanded, "Who could you have_ possibly_ promised that you'd keep me safe when you don't even like me and…"

"Your mother!"

THAT made silence fall, the corridor they were in now dead quiet save for the faint sound of the cloister bell in the distance. Clara stared at the Judge, her eyes wide, her mouth open as she gaped at the Time Lady for what she'd said in the middle of their yelling.

"You…you don't know my mum," Clara whispered, shaking her head.

"I do," the Judge nodded, inwardly cursing herself for having let that slip, "I _did_."

"But…" Clara blinked rapidly, "How? When?" she frowned, "Was it…was it the park?" she asked, vaguely recalling seeing the Judge and Doctor in the park when she was a child, just a little girl. She'd been thinking of it more and more ever since Akhaten, when she'd realized they'd been at her mother's grave, she'd recalled seeing them a few other places as well.

"No," the Judge swallowed, glancing down the hall, "We need to get to the console room and…"

"No," Clara stated firmly, stepping towards her, "You don't just get to bring up MY mum and then change the subject. _Tell me_."

The Judge looked at Clara a long while, biting the inside of her cheek. She didn't want to have this conversation, she didn't want Clara to know, but…this was partly what Emma had been speaking of. The truth about her issues with Clara and humans would come out one day, and…it seemed like this was the start of it. She hadn't been fair to Clara, at all, she knew it, she wasn't fair to most humans, not willing to give them a chance, like most of her people. But she was especially hard on Clara.

Because Clara was the only one of all the humans, of all the companions, that she had double the issue with.

"Your mum died on the 5th of March, 2005," the Judge rubbed her head, "In the Shop Dummy attacks."

"Yeah…" Clara frowned at that, "She was shopping and…"

"She wasn't shopping Clara," the Judge sighed, "She was investigating."

"What?" Clara nearly laughed at that, "No, she was shopping. Dad said…"

"You father didn't know."

"Didn't know what?!"

"That your mother was an operative of Torchwood," the Judge stated, looking Clara right in the eye so she would know she was telling the truth, "He knew she was a desk worker there, but he didn't know what Torchwood was, he didn't know she'd just been made into a field operative."

"She wasn't…"

"She was," the Judge nodded, "She'd just been promoted to it when my ship was shot down and I was seized by Torchwood. How else would I know about this?" she tugged at her sling, Clara's eyes widening as she realized the reason that the Judge had thought to use her shirt was likely because her mother had done something similar to it, "Your mum was one of the two assigned to help patch me up from the crash site and transport me to Torchwood. Your mum was gushing about how she'd been promoted, how I was her first assignment," she shook her head, probably wasn't a brilliant thing for an operative to do, blab all of it to the alien they just basically arrested, but the woman had been SO excited and proud of herself, she couldn't help but gab about it, "But when we got to Torchwood there were reports coming in about low energy fluctuations and signal readings near the shops. They assigned your mum to go with a few other agents to investigate," she let out a breath, closing her eyes, "I told them NOT to send anyone, that it was alien and dangerous. But they thought that, just because the energy was weak, that the enemy would be too, they didn't listen to me when I told them it was the Nestene."

She looked down at the floor, it was one energy signal her ship had picked up just before being shot down, that and the sonic. She'd been trying to find the Doctor, the current Doctor, not a future one that she'd managed to glimpse here and there. She'd tracked his sonic, found it in the middle of the Nestene energy before she'd been shot down.

"I tried to tell them not to go," she scoffed, "But I was an alien, how could they trust me to tell the truth?" she looked up at Clara who was still staring at her, gaping, tears in her eyes, "Ollie went and…"

"Ollie?" Clara shook her head, "Her name was _Ellie_…"

"Ellie Oswald," the Judge nodded, "Nee Ravenwood," she had thought that seeing Ellie Ravenwood on the book Clara owned was familiar, but she'd only glimpsed that name on Ellie's files when she'd finally been able to get into the systems for Torchwood, when she'd finally been able to join them instead of be treated like a threat, "They wanted to call her Ozzy, but there was already an Ozzy there apparently so they called her Ollie instead," she swallowed, "I DID try to tell them not to go, Clara, I tried to keep them from sending her especially."

"Why HER?" Clara frowned.

"She was the only one with a family," the Judge breathed, "The others were all so new, new recruits, young men and women, none of them had children. Ollie did."

She remembered Mrs. Oswald gushing about her daughter, never knew her name, but just that she was a clever little bossy control freak even at a young age, wanted everything in order. But that woman had loved her daughter so much, had been a right chatterbox as well, told her on the ride to Torchwood how she'd joined to make her daughter proud, to protect her from the aliens, then apologized to her for that, claimed no offense to her for being alien, because she seemed like a nice alien. Apparently Torchwood had mixed feelings about Time Lords. She'd been something of a cross between enemy like the Doctor and potential leverage against him while also being a sort of secret weapon that they could use to counter what he did, like their own private Time Lord army to fight the Doctor.

Luckily only Jack had known she was really his wife. If Yvonne's Torchwood had found that out, she'd be leverage and bait, even more so than just a normal Time Lady would have been.

"She had a daughter," she murmured, closing her eyes, "_I_ had a daughter," she whispered, that was the main reason she hadn't wanted the woman to go out on that mission, she had just lost her daughter, she didn't want that little girl to lose her mother either, "When she didn't come back…" she cleared her throat, "I promised myself that I'd make sure her daughter was safe," she looked at Clara again, "I had Jack check on you from time to time, find out who you were," he was more off the grid than she had been, less under Yvonne and Torchwood's eye, "Keep an eye out, make sure you were ok…"

She hadn't known that Clara was THE Clara Oswald, the daughter of Ellie Oswald, not till she'd gotten that text from Jack back when she and the Doctor had been investigating Clara. The moment she'd seen Ellie Oswald, her hearts had stopped, recognizing the woman from Torchwood. She'd contacted Jack right after that, wanting to know who Ellie's daughter was and he'd said Clara, had sent her a picture to confirm it.

It WAS Clara, THIS Clara right before her that was Ollie's daughter.

"I promised myself, I promised your mother's memory, that I would keep you safe," the Judge finally admitted, thinking of the woman that had made SUCH an impression on her, that had been lost so soon after. She knew, as a human, she shouldn't have cared about the woman if she survived or not, but she'd connected with the woman first as a mother, not in a species sense, "And then the Doctor got involved and now you're in danger _all the time_. Do you see now?" she looked pleadingly at Clara, "I want you safe Clara, but you're in danger all the time. I want you on Earth to be safe, but then I can't protect you! Just stepping into the TARDIS, taking one adventure with the Doctor, it makes you different, it makes you a target to his enemies! Even if you live your life out on Earth, never seeing us again, you'd still be a target to anyone that saw you with him. I can't protect you if you're not close by, but I can't have you close by or you're in danger! I lose, either way, I break my promise to your mum."

She let her head fall back on the wall, "I want you better than the other companions Clara. I _need_ you to be faster, to be more clever, to be more logical," she eyed the girl as Clara looked down at the ground, "You ask stupid questions, I need you to realize WHY they're stupid. You do something daft, I need you to NEVER do them again. You put yourself in danger, I need you to be able to know how to get OUT of it. I need you to be better than the others…and maybe I do it the wrong way, but you get better, each time, each time I insult you or am hard on you, you don't do it again. You look more, listen more, think more…and I need that," she swallowed hard, "I need to know that you'll be safe, in the middle of all this, even when I can't be there. I NEED you to be safe, Clara, for Ollie."

Ellie Oswald had been one of the first humans she'd actually encountered on Earth, had been kind to her, had talked to her and not treated her like an alien. She had been…normal, she had been a mother, she had been a woman just trying to make her daughter proud. She could relate to that. In those few times she'd come to see humans as something other than their species, as a parent, she could relate. When the woman had died, she'd wanted to make sure the daughter would be safe and looked after. But SHE couldn't get involved, because she was dangerous, being a Time Lady, she was as much a danger and target as the Doctor was, she didn't want to risk Clara's life by popping into it and leading other enemies to her. So she'd sent Jack.

And then, of course, as fate would have it, Clara ended up as a Dalek and died. And she hadn't even REALIZED it was Clara then, hadn't known at all. Hadn't even reacted to knowing she'd died. And to see Clara the Governess? She'd never known what Clara Oswald, Ollie's daughter, looked like, hadn't wanted to risk seeing her on the streets and staring too long, or have a picture somewhere that others could trace to. But she had seemed so familiar, because, she realized now, she saw bits of Ollie in Clara, in her appearance, in her mannerisms. And then SHE had died too. And now with Clara, now knowing who she is, who she was to Ollie, she didn't want that same fate.

At first, dealing with the wi-fi, she'd been ok with him inviting Clara along, she'd been kinder to Clara, thinking her just another human that he'd want as a companion, and that was ok. That was normal. But finding out WHO she was, everything changed. She didn't want Clara travelling with them, because it was more danger to put Ollie's daughter in. But she didn't want Clara on Earth, because the wi-fi had attacked her so she was already a target, already not safe without them. She had been less nitpicking of Clara's human shortcomings because she would learn and it wasn't all that much an issue. But then to know she was Ollie's daughter, she wanted Clara to be BETTER than that, she HAD to be, because that was the only way she'd survive. She NEEDED Clara to understand what those shortcomings were and to work on them. It came across as snapping at her and degrading her, but she just…she needed Clara to realize her flaws and weaknesses and be better than that.

The Doctor always made the humans out to be awesome and amazing, made them feel that way. And she couldn't risk Clara thinking she was invincible just because the Doctor had inflated her ego, she needed Clara reasonable and aware.

She wanted to be kind to the girl, to be kind to the girl whose mother had been so kind to her, but…at the same time…she didn't want to get attached. For SO long she had thought of Ollie's daughter in the abstract, the child of a woman who had helped her, a child she didn't know, a child she'd never seen, didn't have contact with. She could think of the girl distantly, could imagine her life, could think of how proud Ollie would be of her. But having an actual face to put with it, actual interaction now? She had always had Ollie's daughter in mind, and now she was there. And she didn't want to get attached to Clara, because she was Ollie's daughter and that had to remain separate. She couldn't let on that Clara meant anything to her, because for so long 'Ollie's daughter' her safety had relied on not being anything to HER, on having nothing to do with the girl. She wanted to be kind, but she needed to keep Clara at arm's length. She tried to show it in other ways, in how she'd stay with Clara over the Doctor, even not liking humans. The one exception being when she and the Doctor had gone into the pocket universe. It was why she'd insisted the Doctor stay with her when she went in the café, why she'd allowed the Doctor to talk her into going with Clara back to Akhaten, why she agreed with letting her daughter talk to Skaldak instead of Clara, why she had tried to keep Clara safe in the console room back then…she tried to keep Clara safe, without letting on that she was doing it.

Worse yet, she was happy that Clara could travel the stars, see aliens, help save people, just like her mother had helped protect them from aliens in Torchwood. Clara would have the chance to connect to her mother in doing that. But seeing Clara every day was a reminder of how she'd failed to protect Ollie. It was a reminder of the guilt she carried that the first human she tried to protect, had died. SHE was responsible for Ollie's death, in her mind, because she should have done something more to keep her from going on that mission. She saw Clara and all she thought about was how she'd failed the girl in protecting her mother, she saw Clara and she thought about how she was failing Ollie to protect Clara. It really was a lose-lose situation for her and that was hard to bear.

It was just…a mess, and she was sure she wasn't going about this at all well, but it was the best she could do with all these...conflictions in her head about Clara. She was Ollie's daughter, she was also human, she wanted her there, but didn't want her in danger, she saw a girl making her mother proud, she saw the daughter of the woman she couldn't save.

And she didn't know how to handle that.

Because she DID have an issue with Clara being human, but that had more to do with the Doctor than Clara, and THAT was a conversation she needed to have with the Doctor first, because there were far more humans around than Ollie's daughters.

"So you…" Clara's voice broke slightly, "All this time you were just…trying to protect me?"

"Badly," the Judge admitted, "In the wrong ways," she could admit that as well, "But yes. You are Ollie's daughter, and I just wanted you safe…and now," she let out a breath, "I don't even know what that means, I don't know how to do it, and it…frustrates me," she swallowed, "This version of me…I don't know how to deal with frustration well."

"I'll say," Clara let out a small laugh with her words, offering the Judge a small smile, "I'm a big girl, Judge, I can take care of myself."

The Judge shook her head, "To a parent, you're always the child. And even if you're not MY child, Clara, I've thought of you as someone's daughter for…so long, I can't quite see you as something other than Ollie's little girl, a little girl that needs protecting."

"Well, I'll just have to prove myself more, won't I?" Clara started to smile at that. Looking back on all the comments the Judge had made now, she could understand why the woman had sounded so frustrated with the questions she would ask or the things she'd say, she was worried but she wasn't sure of how to express it, without revealing everything. She knew enough of Torchwood to know that secrecy was a big part of it, secrets kept them safe, the secret of her mother's profession had kept HER safe. But she would prove to the Judge that she could take care of herself, from now on, she'd prove that she was better than the others.

Her mother had dealt with aliens and danger, and she would make her mother proud too, she would prove she could do it.

The Judge gave her a small smile in return, "We need to get to the console room," she nodded towards the hall once more, though this time Clara nodded and the two started to walk that way, however, the lightness they'd felt from the truths that had come out only moments ago faded when they spotted something very wrong around the corner.

On the wall were five long, black, deep scratch marks that made them look at each other in concern as a realization hit them.

They weren't alone.

~8~

The Doctor turned a knob on the console, hitting a switch at the same time and looking up as the smoke and gasses that had filled the console room were sucked up through the extractor fans in the ceiling. He had finally managed to convince the trio of men to help him get back to Clara and the Judge, to get them out of the TARDIS and safe once more, but he knew better than to actually trust them with the life of his wife and companion. He had to be careful how he operated.

"Safe to breathe," he told them, pulling off the respirator he'd put over his nose and mouth, watching them do the same, even Tricky, the youngest of the group who was, apparently, an android…yet one that needed a respirator. Interesting, "Ok," he clapped his hands, moving around the console to try and look around, "Now. The last thing I remember, the Judge was right here," he moved to stand where the Judge had been, "And Clara was ducked down back there," he pointed to where the Judge had set Clara to hide for protection. He pulled out the sonic and scanned the space between where he was and where Clara had been crouched, "Come on dear," he murmured to himself, focusing more on his spot, "Talk to me."

He'd tried to call out to the Judge the moment he'd gotten into the TARDIS, but the box was a tricky old girl, he still couldn't hear her in his mind, couldn't even sense her. And if it were not for the pain he was absolutely certain that he'd feel if she died, he would have thought she were dead that was how little he could sense her. But he knew she was alive, he just had to find her and hope that Clara was with her.

"How big is this baby?" Bram eyed the room, coming out of the shock of how much bigger on the inside it was.

"Picture the biggest ship you've ever seen," he called, eyeing the sonic, "Are you picturing it?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now forget it. This ship is infinite," he shook his head, frustrated with the sonic, it wasn't picking up even a particle of the girls, and moved to the console to try and scan that way. He hadn't wanted to risk using the console, using the TARDIS what with it clearly being damaged, but these were desperate times.

He was trying his level best to not allow himself to get worked up, to get frightened or angry or panicked, but…it was hard. Because he'd never seen the TARDIS THIS damaged before and it was worrying him. Not just because, if he couldn't fix it, he'd lose the box that had been with him for centuries, but because if it was truly as badly damaged as he feared, he might end up losing the woman that had been in his hearts for even longer. And that was not going to happen, not again, he was not going to lose his wife again. And not to the TARDIS.

He winced at that last thought, it wasn't fair to think that way but…it was an ironic twist. She had 'lost' him to the TARDIS when he went off through the universe, in a way, and now he was losing her to the depths of a broken TARDIS.

"It could take you hours to find the girls," Gregor, the leader of the trio, remarked.

"Days," he agreed, "Plus the whole place is toxic. Clara, at the very least, could be dead by the time I reach her. But the Judge wouldn't let that happen," he knew she wouldn't, despite not liking Clara, he was absolutely certain that she would still do everything in her power to keep the girl safe and alive, "So. Here's the mission. We're going to find them both in one hour."

"We?" Gregor gave him a look.

"You're my guys for this," the Doctor nodded, trying not to think of how he'd said the same thing to his boys whenever they'd plan a surprise for the Judge or his daughter. They were always his go-to guys for everything, except travelling the Universe. He knew how dangerous that was and he'd wanted to spare them that, he truly wasn't sure how Susan had managed to wear him down to allow her to go with him.

"That wasn't the deal."

"'Tis now."

"What makes you think we'll help?" Gregor challenged.

The Doctor seemed to have been waiting for just that sort of threat as he turned to the console and flipped two levers, pushing the monitor slightly to the side so that it was visible to all three men, a bright digital countdown starting to appear on the screen and tick down from an hour.

"I just activated the TARDIS self-destruct system," he told them, not sounding at all worried about the fact he was talking about blowing them all up, "One hour until this ship blows," he grinned as Bram tried to run for the doors only for them to slam closed, which did relieve him quite a bit that the TARDIS was still semi-conscious and trying to help, "Don't try to leave. The TARDIS is in lockdown. I'll open those doors when I've got my wife back by my side and when I'm sure that Clara's alright."

"You crazy lunatic!" Bram pounded on the door, as though throwing insults at the man with the key would help.

"My ship, my rules!"

"You'll kill us all!" Gregor frowned, "And the girls."

"You underestimate my wife," the Doctor shook his head, but grew serious, "They may die if you don't help me. Don't get into a spaceship with a madman," he sighed, rolling his eyes as the men ran for the doors trying to help Bram break them down, "Didn't anyone ever teach you that? Ok," he sighed when the three of them ignored him to focus on the door, this wouldn't work at all, he needed their full focus, "A little gentle persuasion. Say 30 minutes?" he turned and hit a button, the screen of the monitor flickering down from one hour to only 30 minutes and clicking down.

"They'll die even quicker now!" Bram cried.

"We all perform better under pressure," the Doctor shrugged, though he really couldn't be sure about the Judge though, she was always rather calm when stress and pressure set in. She never really broke down about it till after she'd dealt with it all. If she didn't sleep in the process of dealing with it, well that was just her way, though he HAD had quite a lot of fun in convincing her to sleep when she was on edge about something on Gallifrey. Often it was something that he COULD help her with, but she never asked him, not wanting to burden him with it too. So he'd trick her asleep, tire her out, and then slip out of bed to go work on it in her place, making a fair dent in it before she even woke up. And she was always so grateful and appreciative for his efforts the reward for those small things was always very nice for him. He blushed and shook his head away from that, "Anybody want to go for 15 minutes?" he asked, turning to press the button again but the men all shouted for him to stop, all of them ready to work for their salvage this time, "It's your own time you're wasting," he reminded them, "Salvage of a lifetime. You meant the ship. I meant my wife."

~8~

The Judge slowly led Clara through the halls of the TARDIS, only seeming to need to pause once or twice to get her bearings, not used to the hallways not shifting around, and to take a moment to breathe, to focus on something other than the pain in her arm. Clara tried to help keep her thoughts off her pain by asking questions about Torchwood, what they did, how they changed, her adventures in it. She knew that the Judge had been a part of it when they'd met Jack, but she didn't really know much about it. The Judge was aware that it was meant to be both a distraction as well as Clara's own attempts to learn more about the organization her mother had died for, and she was actually feeling a little better about sharing that information. She knew that her adventures with Torchwood hardly every compared to the Doctor's but it was nice to be able to talk about it with someone.

She paused as they turned a corner though, hearing a faint growling coming down the hall from them, "Clara back up," she whispered to the woman, pushing her back slightly as Clara did so instantly, truly seeming to take to her 'do as she's told' and proving herself in that she could improve and pay attention and keep herself safe and, when with the Time Lords, that usually meant to exactly as they said, "In here," the Judge moved to a door and opened it, allowing them in and shutting the door behind her, remaining close to the door with her ear on it to listen for the growling she'd heard outside.

It was a storage room of sorts, the Judge was firm in keeping her gaze from landing on the small cot that the Doctor had kept, the cot that all their children had slept in at one point or another. Clara, however, had gasped and looked around the room, spotting quite a few odds and ends, a little model of the TARDIS, a magnifying glass, an umbrella, a creature with glowing eyes, a flute…

She stiffened at that, a creature with glowing eyes?!

"Judge?" she called, slowly backing up to her, "There's something in here," she whispered to the woman when she reached the door.

The Judge looked over, seeing Clara trying to remain calm, and glimpsed the creature lurking in the shadows. It was dark, humanoid, seeming to be made of some dark material, like ashes all clumped together, its hand stuck to its head. She stiffened, realizing exactly what it was from the sense she got off it, it was non-Time Lord, and the only other people in the TARDIS or who were ever really in the TARDIS, were humans. There was only one thing she could think of in that box that would do that to a human, "Very slowly move to the side so I can open the door," the Judge told her, nudging her slightly and Clara moved. She pulled the door open, Clara slipping out of the room, with the Judge close behind.

"Here!" Clara quickly hurried and picked up one of the pieces of metal scattering the floor, "Wedge it in!" she hurried to shove the metal through the door handle, the doors were odd, they could open different ways and, since this door had opened like a regular door, she was hoping that it would mean it would always open like that, the metal was long enough to keep the creature from being able to open it fully.

"Very good Clara," the Judge smiled at her, making Clara beam, "But this does leave one problem."

"What?" her smile fell.

"The reason I pushed us in there was because there was another creature out HERE."

"Then we need to run," she nodded.

"You're doing well at proving me wrong," the Judge told her as they turned to hurry down the corridor, "By the way."

Clara just grinned at that, happy that she was, happy that this might mean that the Judge was coming around to her.

"For a human," she added, though Clara could hear the smallest hint of a non-serious note in her voice before they focused on where they were going, "No," the Judge shook her head as they passed the observatory, "Not there," and the swimming pool, "Um…" she paused before one door though, before nodding, "Best bet for the moment," she pushed the door open to the library on the other side. They just needed a place to hide till the creature she'd heard following them had passed them.

"Now that's just showing off," Clara breathed as she got a good look at the room, it was near five levels of nothing but bookshelves!

The Judge started to smile, only for the lights to flicker above them, distracting her, a rather angry sounding groaning noise reaching her from the depths of the TARDIS. She tried to think of something that could have caused that noise. She'd heard loads of them, the creatures, the groaning of the TARDIS, but that noise had been more of the sound of a ship that was recovering from an explosion, as it was, and not purposefully angry. So what was it that had changed?

She looked over, fully intent to ask Clara if she'd touched something, more from a natural reaction that the humans must have done something wrong, than truly thinking Clara had done anything, when she saw the girl heading for a book on a shelf with a light shining down on it. She pursed her lips and hurried over, slamming the book shut just as Clara reached it, "No reading this book," she ordered Clara.

Clara frowned, glancing at the title, 'The History of the Time War,' and back at the Judge, nodding slightly, "Can I ask why?"

"It's private," the Judge said, reaching out to turn Clara away from the book and lead her back more towards the center of the library, "Like a diary. You don't read…" she trailed off as the growling noise sounded, right behind the door to the library, "Go," she whispered, turning Clara to the side, "Hide!"

The two of them ducked down behind a bookshelf as the door opened and a new creature entered. The Judge peered around the corner of the shelf, frowning when she saw that this creature appeared to be one armed, though there was a misshapen lump near the front left side of its body. Her frown deepened as she looked down at her arm in its sling and back at the creature as it began to wander around the room.

She looked back suddenly when she heard a clattering above her and quickly moved to her knees, grabbing one of the bottles of Encyclopedia Gallifreyae to keep it from toppling over, shooting Clara a look that said 'be careful!' that had the girl wincing in apology. She waited till she was sure that the bottles were balanced again before she turned and leaned around the edge of the shelf again.

But the creature was nowhere in sight.

"Clara," she reached back a hand to Clara, silently telling her to take it, which she did, the two pulling each other to their feet. The Judge gave her a short nod, one that Clara returned, before they bolted for the open door and into the hall, slamming the door behind them, Clara grabbing another piece of debris and using it to lock the creature in as well, buying them time, though they doubted it would be much time given the fierce thumping that sounded a moment later, as though the creature had been running after them and they'd only just escaped. Whatever it was, it was strong.

"Come on," the Judge nodded, "Console room is close," she told her, the two of them hurrying off at a much quicker pace, nearly a run, till they raced right into the console room around a corner.

"Oh, thank god!" Clara grinned widely, clapping, before she ran up to the console with a laugh, not noticing the Judge's small frown.

The Judge stepped back and turned down the one hall, walking towards it…

Only to enter the console room again just as Clara reached where the doors should be.

She stepped back and went the other way down the hall…

Walking right back into the console room yet again, to see Clara pounding on the wall with a cry of, "Where's the door gone now? You can't do this!"

"It's no use Clara," she sighed, moving up to the console, "This is just an echo of the console room, it doesn't have a door or," she flicked a switch on the controls, "Any power. It's like a dummy room."

"Then we have to find the real one," Clara turned to her, walking over.

"We can't, the TARDIS won't let us leave the room either," she nodded to the doorway, "It's put us in a loop."

"Why?" Clara frowned, "Wouldn't she want us to get out of here?"

"She would but…" she bit the inside of her cheek, her free hand absently rubbing her leg, "I think the Doctor might have gotten in, and not alone."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because the TARDIS wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't a safety protocol. And the only time I can recall THIS being used as a tactic is when someone's trying to steal something from inside the TARDIS. You don't have anything, the TARDIS would let the Doctor or I remove something, as Time Lords, so that means there's some other human here and they tried to take something. They must have come in with the Doctor, how else could they get inside?"

"Yeah, that door isn't easy to open," Clara mumbled, thinking of all the times she tried to get in but couldn't, "Um…do you think the TARDIS will ease up on me too now?" she had to ask, "Since we, you know, talked?"

The Judge let out a breath, "She might a bit, but…not entirely," before adding under her breath, "Not till the Doctor and I are all sorted at least."

They really had…quite a few issues to work out, didn't they? But the TARDIS, well, she knew that SHE and the TARDIS did have some issues to sort out as well. And it bothered her because the box was being kind to her, it seemed the TARDIS was trying to protect her from other female companions, to protect her from something like River happening again, where they got a bit too obsessed and romantically attached to the Doctor. The TARDIS wanted to make sure that Clara wasn't going to develop a crush on the Doctor and only then would she come around to Clara. And it made her feel terrible given her own thoughts of the TARDIS and how she felt about the box and...

Her thoughts were cut off when a piece of debris fell off of the console, no, not fell off, seemed to be knocked off...without she or Clara touching it.

"How did that happen?" Clara frowned, looking at the Judge.

She frowned and moved closer to the piece, squatting down to pick it up and examine it, "I…don't know," she looked at the rotor as it briefly flickered on and then off again and walked towards it, shivering a moment when a feeling swept through her.

"What's wrong?" Clara asked, seeing her shiver.

"I think I felt the Doctor," she murmured, holding out her hand and slowly walking around, slowing only when she shivered again, "I did," she nodded, looking at Clara "The Doctor's here, I can feel him, sort of, he's HERE though..."

"In the console room?"

"In A console room," she nodded, it would explain why she hadn't sensed him till now, if he was in an echo room like they were, "Hopefully the main one and…"

"Judge!" Clara screamed, reaching out to pull her back when she caught sight of another creature, a smaller one, petite, with both hands available, stagger into the room.

The Judge turned quickly, moving Clara behind her as she backed them up, trying to keep the console between the creature and them.

Clara eyed the creature from over the Judge's shoulder, tilting her head as she tried to get a better look at it, frowning when the creature did the same thing as her, "What is it?" she whispered to the woman as they backed up slower, trying not to provoke the creature to attack.

"You really don't want to know," the Judge told her, moving them more towards the doors as the creature reached out for them, smoke and steam rising from its hand, clearly the flesh and body hotter than it should be if it was producing steam. But if it was that hot…how could it be alive?

The breath left the Judge as she felt them back right into the wall of the doors, the creature seeming to sense that they were trapped as it lunged right at them…

A/N: Bit Doctor-lite here, but I wanted to focus on Clara and the Judge and them working on a resolution ;) So Mrs. Oswald was Torchwood }:) I really wanted there to be a connection between Torchwood and the Oswalds, mostly because the date that Mrs. Oswald died was the same day the Shop Dummies came to life and I was just thinking, why would she be there? I didn't want to make it an entire, she was an innocent shopper like Jackie, but more she was there for a purpose, and it cost her her life :(

So now we know why the Judge is a little harder on Clara than others, it definitely didn't come across in the best way and I tried to make it how her inner frustrations and conflicting thoughts on Clara made it hard for her to connect to her, to want her there but not want her there and more. BUT! I can say that this is only HALF the reason. There's a much bigger reason why she doesn't like humans in general and some particular humans in the next chapter ;) But I hope it sort of made sense why she was so torn about Clara. She doesn't want her there, because she made a promise to Ollie to make sure Clara would be ok and safe and keeping her in the TARDIS means danger...but if she sends her away means she won't be there to actually protect her :( Having her there is hard because she doesn't like humans (which we'll find out why tomorrow) and she doesn't want them there, but she has to have Clara there because of her promise. She has to see Clara, someone she doesn't want there, be around all that every time, because of her and the Doctor. She wants Clara to be smarter than other humans, to be able to protect herself, but she didn't want to reveal what she knew of Ollie, so she nitpicked the 'stupid ape' moments that Clara had, wanting her to realize things more so she'd be better able to keep herself safe later. She is glad that Clara's there, because she can connect to her mother even not knowing she is, but it's also putting Clara in the same situation and danger that Ollie was in, and she blames herself for Clara losing her mother. She wants to protect Clara, but seeing her every day is a reminder of the humans that she'd failed to save in her first go. She sees Clara as someone she needs to protect, while also knowing/feeling that SHE was the cause of Clara's mother dying and she fears failing to protect Clara :(

I can say that her promise to Ollie makes Clara being there hard for her, but Clara being human is also a part of it too. But that's much deeper and much longer festering for her than we know. We'll see exactly what it is about humans in the next chapter ;)

Some notes on reviews...

We found out half of what the Judge is hiding ;) The other half will be the next chapter }:)

That's cool :) I'm actually glad you feel that way :) It makes me happy to know that I can make the OCs so different that people have different ones they like over the others ^-^ She's definitely meant to rub the wrong way at first, she's definitely harsher with Clara than others, but I can say we'll see it lighten up more and more from here on out. A really BIG part is because Clara's human, but that will be a big resolution moment for the Doctor and the Judge in the next chapter that will enormously help her get over her more negative thoughts on them. It's something she's been holding in for a long time and once it comes out, I think she'll be able to start moving on ;) She'll still have moments where she doesn't see the impressive quality of humans, but she wont' be quite as open or biting in how it comes across ;)


	22. Journey to the Center of the TARDIS - P2

Journey to the Center of the TARDIS - Part 2

The Judge gasped as she felt someone grab her arm that wasn't Clara or the creature and pull her forward, making her reach back and grab Clara as she was pulled, taking the girl with her…right into the console room, but a different room, one of the others without the creature there…but WITH the Doctor and two other men in salvaging uniforms.

"Judge!" the Doctor gasped as he pulled the Judge right into his arms, hugging her tightly, "You're ok!" he breathed, relief heavy in his words, "You're ok!" he pulled away, his hands on her face as he beamed at her, "You're ok," he repeated for a third time, before kissing her quickly on the lips and THEN seeming to notice her one bound arm, "You're...mostly ok?" his eyes widened at the sight, "What happened?! ARE you ok?"

The Judge, who blinked, seeming more stunned that he'd just kissed her like that, cleared her throat, "Um...fell? Fine?" she tried to shake her head, to snap her out of her daze at his actions, trying to string together some sort of coherent sentence.

"You're sure?" the Doctor pulled out the sonic and scanned her arm, "Sprained, not broken," he let out a breath, not wanting her to have experienced that sort of pain, "Should be fine in a few days..." he eyed her, frowning when he saw she still appeared a bit dazed, "You SURE you're alright?"

She nodded, "Um...fine?" she repeated.

He gave her one more look, his gaze flickering to her sling, before he dipped down and pressed a kiss to her shoulder as well, then spun around to Clara, "And Clara Oswald!" he cheered, moving to give her a quick hug as well, "It's alright," he reassured Clara who seemed more wide eyed from fright than shock. He gave her a pat on the head and turned back to the Judge, "I'm so, so sorry," he told his wife, taking her hand, "I should have kept you closer to me, done something to keep all this happening. Please, please forgive me..."

His words were cut off, however, when Clara stalked up to him and punched him in the shoulder, pointing at him like she wanted to say something but not having the words to form it.

"Ow," he pouted, glancing at the Judge a moment, expecting her to snip at Clara for doing that.

"You deserve it," the Judge finally spoke, shaking her head to clear it from his kiss, trying to focus on the matter at hand.

"What do you keep in here?!" Clara demanded. She should have asked the Judge before, when they first spotted the two creatures, but they were in such dimly lit areas she doubted the woman had actually gotten a good look and, by the time they had, they were being backed away and about to be attacked and she was NOT the Doctor, she was not the sort to start asking all the personal questions while in the middle of a danger like that, "Why have you got zombie creatures? Good guys do not have zombie creatures. Rule one," she hit him once more, "Basic storytelling."

"Not in front of the guests," the Doctor rubbed his arm, stepping back and nodding at Tricky and Gregor, the younger of the two giving a little wave to the two women.

"Who are they?"

"Friends."

"Friends as in _friends_," the Judge gave him a look, "Or friends as in people who just haven't reached the point of wanting to kill you yet?"

"Um, I hope for the first," he gave a sheepish grin, "But probably the second. So," he rounded on Clara and pointed at her, "I don't need punching again!"

"And they're not zombie creatures Clara," the Judge added.

"Well what are they then?" Clara demanded.

"Hold on, hold on," Gregor interrupted as the Judge opened her mouth to answer, "I don't care what they are, all I care about is our salvage. A deal's a deal. You got the girls back," he looked at the Doctor, "Now cancel the self-destruct."

"What self-destruct?" the Judge shook her head, "Basic TARDISes don't have a self-destruct and even if this one did I'd remove it cos, knowing him," she nodded her head at the Doctor, "He'd end up accidently setting it off. War-TARDISes though…" now THOSE did have self-destructs, couldn't risk letting the Daleks get their hands on them.

"There's no self-destruct?" Tricky frowned.

"There is no self-destruct, no," the Doctor smiled tensely, letting out a strained laugh as the two men glared at him, "Hey! Hey! Hey!" he joke punched Gregor, "Had you going, though, boys, didn't I? I just wiggled a few buttons. The old wiggly-button trick."

"Which buttons?" the Judge looked over at him, then the console, actually fearing he may have found a way to self-destruct the TARDIS somehow.

"And the face," he continued, "You've got to do the face. 'Save them or we all die.' I thought I rushed it a bit, but..."

"So you're telling us we're safe?" Tricky eyed him.

"Was that not clear by 'there is no self-destruct?'" the Judge frowned at him, Clara smiling just a little bit off to the side.

She knew that it wouldn't be instant, the Judge being kinder to everyone, to humans in general, but at least she knew that the Judge might start to back off of her a little more now. Or she hoped the woman would. They hadn't actually talked about that, but she could sense a small change in the woman, like she was trying to hold her tongue more, or at least wait a moment before saying anything. She appreciated it, maybe it would give her time to formulate better questions, ones that sounded less 'stupid' to the Judge.

"We're safe-ish," the Doctor agreed, "Apart from the monsters and the TARDIS reinventing the architecture every five minutes."

"Yes, what is that about?" the Judge turned to him a moment and then eyed the two men, "Which one of you tried to steal something from the TARDIS?"

"It's not stealing if it's part of our salvage," Gregor stated, stepping back, unintentionally answering her question.

"What did you take?"

"It's nothing," the Doctor tried to defend, "We'll get it back in the end," he promised her, "Right now though, let me just…" he lightly moved around her, towards the console, still explaining what he was doing to the two men as he went, "The countdown IS a fake. Look, just give me just a second. I'll turn it off," he flicked a switch, "I only made it look as though the engine was actually exploding."

The Judge closed her eyes as an alarm started to blare, "Please tell me that alarm has nothing to do with the engine."

"Um…it appears the engine is damaged," the Doctor winced, "We're in trouble," he looked at her, "Proper trouble. It needs fixing or we're toast," he turned and hurried to the lower level of the room, rushing down the stairs as the Judge followed.

"You can't seriously be saying that we're going into the engine room!" she hissed at him.

"We have to."

"Doctor," she grabbed his arm, "The TARDIS has been damaged for too long," she shook her head, "It's already affecting other areas of her, letting time bleed through. By the time we get there, it will be too dangerous. It could be fatal to all of us."

"We have to try," he insisted.

"It will kill us all," she countered.

But he just turned to a vent on the wall, "I can't lose the TARDIS, not now, not after all we've been through."

The Judge frowned at that, stepping back at his words and watching him with a frown as he soniced the vent off the wall, peering into the shaft behind it.

The TARDIS, it was always the TARDIS wasn't it. It was dangerous! It was bleeding time, it was likely bleeding other fluids and other substances, and he wanted to walk right into it, even knowing there was likely nothing that he could do. Just because he could lose the TARDIS, what about their lives? He could be taking them down a path where they would ALL lose their lives in this and he didn't even seem to care! She couldn't make sense of this, of him, when he first saw her, when he'd hugged her before, when he'd kissed her, she could feel it, she could feel his desperation to get to her, to save her, to have her back, it was like he didn't want to lose her, like he couldn't lose her. But now he was so focused on the TARDIS…maybe she'd misinterpreted. Maybe he'd just wanted her there so they'd have two heads working on how not to lose the TARDIS instead.

"So," Clara offered, seeing the way the Judge was tensing, the displeased look on her face, and the way the Doctor was trying to half climb into the shaft, "Now would be a good time to use that big friendly button, right?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood, giving the Judge a pointed smile so she would know it was MEANT to be jesting.

"Yeah, sorry, I should have had one built in," the Doctor agreed, actually serious.

"Where are we going?" Tricky asked.

"Somewhere we ought not go," the Judge grumbled.

"Detour," the Doctor looked back at them with a grin, "The center of the TARDIS."

~8~

"_I really don't think we should do this, Theta,_" the Judge spoke in Gallifreyan as she and the Doctor walked ahead of Clara and the two men, the Doctor with the sonic out, scanning for any of the creatures as they tried to get to the engine room.

"_We have to,_" he insisted, "_We need to get to the engine room and get it all sorted or the TARDIS could end up damaged beyond repair._"

"_I rather think she's already damaged that badly. Going there won't do anything but endanger all of us._"

"_We can't know that for certain._"

"_Those things are running through the halls,_" she gave him a pointed look, "_You KNOW the only way they could be here. What that has to mean about the engines. Why are you so set on this?_"

"_Why are you so against it?_" he paused to look at her, only for Clara to gasp behind them, making them turn to her.

"Shush!" she cut in, seeing a lag in their conversation, one she couldn't understand but one that was getting steadily louder as they went, "Something's in here!" she pointed ahead where she'd spotted a shadow dash past the end of the corridor.

"Those...things," Tricky breathed, "They've followed us."

"What are they?" Clara looked at the Time Lords, "What aren't you telling me?"

"Trust me," the Doctor shot the Judge a look, warning her not to say a word, "Some things you don't want to know."

"There!" the Judge pointed, but this time behind them, "Another one!" she added a silent curse under her breath when she caught a glimpse of it, it was the one with its had fused to its forehead, somehow it had escaped the storage room. Wonderful.

"They're on the move again!" Gregor frowned.

"Run!" the Doctor ushered them off, leading the way, "Move, move!"

"Doctor stop!" the Judge cried as they ran around a corner.

"We can't! Have to get to the engine room, have to keep away from those things…"

"Clara's got separated!" the Judge snapped, making him finally stop and spin around to see that Clara had indeed been lost to them.

"Clara!" the Doctor shouted, hurrying towards the Judge who was behind the two men, "Stay here," he ordered Tricky and Gregor, taking the Judge's free hand and hurrying with her down the halls, the sonic out, trying to find Clara, "Have to ask," he muttered, "Not that I'm not tickled that you and Clara seem to be getting on now, but…what happened?"

The Judge sighed, nearly rolling her eyes, he really WAS a fan of asking the personal questions in the middle of danger wasn't he? But she shook her head, knowing it was best to just answer than to let him keep asking and distract himself, "We…had words," she offered.

"Loud words?"

"Yes."

"Harsh words?"

"Some."

He winced at that, "And Clara's still here?"

"Will be in the future too," the Judge let out a breath, both sounding relieved and disappointed about that.

"Doctor confused," he admitted.

She glanced at him and squeezed his hand, opening her mind to him, showing him the briefest summary of what had happened between her and Clara, not having the time or energy to relive that entire thing and have to recount it verbally.

"Ah," he nodded, his eyes slightly wider, "That…does put things in perspective," he had to admit, that DID explain why she was being so much different around Clara than she had been around the Ponds or other humans. It didn't excuse her behavior, but…he did understand more, "And you and Clara…"

"Came to an understanding, yes," she nodded, "I'm…going to try and ease up," she promised him, "But Clara, I think she's going to try to be more perceptive as well," she added, hoping that Clara's words about proving herself would be just that, her thinking more and being more careful, "Hopefully…it'll work."

He smiled, squeezing her hand, "Knowing you both? It will."

She gave him a small smile in return, though her attention was pulled to the side when they were able to hear Clara in the distance, speaking to someone.

"…thank God!" Clara was saying, "Doctor, what's going on?"

They both looked at each other at that, alarm growing as the Doctor was very clearly right there, and ran in that direction, racing around a corner to see Clara speaking to what appeared to be the Doctor, but that Doctor was just standing there, deep in thought.

And Clara was walking closer and closer to it, waving her hand in front of him, appearing as though an inch away from reaching out to touch him, "Say something…"

"Clara don't!" the Judge shouted, "Don't touch him!"

Clara jumped and spun around to see the Doctor and Judge standing there, "But…" she pointed between the Doctor and the other one.

"There's a rupture in time somewhere onboard the ship," the Doctor explained quickly, letting go of the Judge's hand to step closer to Clara, "A small tear in the fabric of the continuum. It must have happened when the TARDIS was pulled in by the salvage vessel," he took her hand and tugged her back, "The TARDIS is leaking."

"Leaking what?"

"What do you…" the Judge began to say, a hint of a snip in her voice, before she took a breath, "What do you think a time machine would leak?" she asked, sounding more like she was trying to encourage Clara to work it out and think about the question.

"Time?" Clara guessed.

The Doctor snapped his free hand and pointed at her, "The past. Everything we've done, everything we've said. Recent history. It's not real, it's a memory," he pulled her more into the hall, turning to lead them back down the other way…only to stop short when a creature, the one with one arm, appeared before them.

"Um…" Clara breathed, "I'm going to guess that's NOT the past?"

"Got it in one," the Judge nodded.

"Go!" the Doctor turned, pushing the two women ahead of him as they ran away, the creature chasing after them, luckily slightly unbalanced by having only one arm to compensate. He hurried them down, rushing faster down the corridor, "She's right onto us!"

"How can you tell it's a she?" Clara called, just barely rephrasing her question from 'she?' because the Doctor wouldn't have said it if it wasn't a she, and her second question of 'you can tell it's a she?' because they could if he knew it was a she. But HOW?"

"Because he knows who it is," the Judge grumbled, seeing him wincing as his gaze flickered from her bound arm and back to the creature just before they turned a corner.

"There!" the Doctor pointed to a small niche in the side of the corridor, pulling the two of them in, smushing them all in, making the Judge hiss at how her arm was being sandwiched between the three of them.

They all held their breath when the creature neared however, listening intently…when the sound of themselves echoed in the distance, speaking exactly what they had in the console room before everything fell apart. The creature hissed and spun on its heel, before rushing off in that direction, making them breathe a sigh of relief and step out from their hiding spot.

Their relief didn't last long, however, when they looked up at a loud groaning noise sounding around them.

"What's that noise?" Clara whispered.

"We're right under the primary fuel cells," the Doctor began.

"If the fuel is leaking as well, Clara," the Judge explained, "Then the rods will become exposed and will cool down. They're not meant to cool or cool this quickly…"

"Which means they'll start to warp, won't they?" Clara swallowed.

"Yes," the Doctor winced, "Maybe even break apart."

The words had no sooner left his mouth than a large metal rod shot right out of the ceiling and landed before them in the ground, at an angle, nearly impaling them had they not been an inch away from it.

"We should run," Clara stated.

"We should never have come down here in the first place," the Judge countered, though she was looking more at the Doctor than Clara for that, "Do you need more proof that this can't be stopped?"

"It CAN be," he insisted, "We can stop it," he took her hand and hurried off down the corridor, pulling the Judge down, wincing every time she hissed or flinched in pain for jolting her bound arm, ducking and jumping to the sides to avoid the rods as they shot not just out of the ceiling but the walls and floor as well.

"**…c**ut me!" they could hear Tricky shouting the nearer they got to where they'd left the two men to wait.

"You made it through!" Clara gasped, her eyes wide, because not ALL of them had made it through, right now Tricky appeared to be impaled by one of the rods, the metal going right through his shoulder, trapping him against the wall.

"What's the matter with you?" Tricky, however, was focused entirely on Gregor, "Why won't you cut me?"

"Cut you?" the Judge shook her head at Tricky, "What, so you can bleed all of the floor and lose an arm? What is WRONG with you humans?!"

"I'm not human," Tricky insisted, "I'm an android."

The Doctor closed his eyes and shook his head, before looking fiercely at Gregor, "Tell him."

"Tell me what?" Tricky frowned at Gregor as well, but the man was silent.

"You can't, can you? You're a coward. You won't save him, but you're scared to tell him why."

"What's he going on about?"

"Robots don't need blast suits," the Doctor turned to Tricky, stating what the Judge had been able to assess just seeing the man, Time Lords, enough time around others and they could get an inkling of what species they were, and Tricky was most certainly human, not metal, "They don't need respirators. They don't get frightened of monsters in the dark."

"What's he talking about?" Tricky looked at Gregor once more, starting to panic.

The Doctor just flashed the sonic at Tricky, "Two bionic eyes and a synthetic voice box. But you, my friend, are human. Flesh and blood."

The Judge blinked and looked at Gregor, "You told him he was an android?!" she had heard many things in her time, once her eldest son had even convinced their second son that he was adopted…despite their boy looking exactly like the Doctor…and they'd had to convince the boy with proof that he was really their flesh and blood. She knew it was a cruel trick that siblings sometimes used against each other, try to convince one that they were adopted or something, but this…this was disturbing.

"It was a joke," Gregor defended weakly.

"A joke?!" the Judge took a step towards the man, fully intent to tell him just how disgusting a joke that was, when the Doctor tugged her back and gave her a shake of the head, this was something between the two men.

"It was just a stupid joke," Gregor repeated, "We did it to relieve the boredom."

"Well, it was very funny," the Doctor rolled his eyes, feeling the same ire the Judge just had, now that he knew that it was just for boredom relief, disgusting, "They lied to you, Tricky. Changed your identity. Just to provide some in-flight entertainment!"

"I'm sorry," Gregor offered, looking at the young man who was staring at him, betrayed, "You're human, Tricky."

The Doctor looked up as the TARDIS groaned again, and grabbed Gregor's arm, shoving him towards Tricky, "Cut the metal. Cut the metal! Go!"

Gregor nodded and lifted some sort of laser cutting device and began to work on the metal, the Judge glancing up as the groaning got louder, "_We shouldn't be here Theta,_" she told the Doctor, "_We should have left._"

"_I can't just leave the TARDIS,_" he insisted, looking at her, seeing her frown deepen at that, "_It's home Carah._"

"_And your home is going to kill us,_" she reminded him, shaking her head, disappointment and hurt in her eyes before she walked past him, only a few feet, just waiting on the other side of Gregor for the man to finish, but the Doctor's own frown and eyes followed her as she went.

~8~

The Doctor led the small group down the halls of the TARDIS, Tricky clutching his arm as he staggered behind, the Judge silent, tense, but looking at the Doctor with what Clara could only define as a mix between disappointment and heartbreak and she didn't know why the woman would have such a look. Was she upset that it didn't appear that they'd be able to help the ship? Was she sad that things were falling apart, that the TARDIS was in jeopardy?

Oddly enough, she didn't get the sense that it was the ship at all that was upsetting her, but the Doctor himself. The Judge had made it clear that she wanted them all out of the TARDIS as it went to hell around them.

The Doctor paused before a heavy metal door that had a circular window set into it, peering through it at something giving off a golden/orange glow on the other side.

"Where are we?" Clara asked.

"Power source," the Doctor mumbled, "Right, you lot," he spun to look at the humans, "Wait here. I'll check it's safe. We can only survive for a minute or two in there."

Clara frowned at that and looked at the Judge, "What happens if we stay longer?"

"The source will burn your skin off and liquefy your body," she stated.

"Right…lovely."

"Come on," the Judge turned to the door, "I'll go with you…"

"But…" the Doctor looked pointedly at the humans, even though he knew that was likely one reason she wanted to get away and go with him.

"That source is going to be unstable now," she reminded him, "The forces exerted in there won't be equal to out here, you'll need two people to open the doors, unless your entire point is TO get liquefied since you seem so set to on putting yourself, and all of us, in danger for this ship. Now let's go," she insisted, "The longer we wait, the worse it gets, right?"

The Doctor frowned at the slight bite in her words, but she was already shoving the door open, making him hurry to push it open with her, not wanting her to hurt her arm more than necessary.

They pushed into the room beyond, taking a moment to acclimatize to the heat that was wafting around them, glancing up at the power source for a moment before they turned and ran across a small catwalk to a door on the other end. The Doctor soniced the lock, the two of them shoving and pushing to get the door open, the Doctor peeking his head through the other side to check there were no creatures before he nodded at the Judge, the two of them hurrying back to the others, shoving the door open…only to see Tricky charging at Gregor, irate and murderous with poor Clara trying to separate them.

"Tricky, listen to me," the Doctor shoved himself between the two men, pulling Tricky away as Clara kept a hand on Gregor's chest to hold him back as well, "Ask yourself why he couldn't cut you up. He has just one tiny scrap of decency left in him. You just helped him find that, ok? Now you," he shot a glare at Gregor, "Don't ever forget this," he warned the man.

"Doctor," the Judge called, leaning against the door, panting, "If you're set to see this through, we have to be quick," though she kept the 'not that it would help' to herself.

The Doctor nodded and helped her push the door open once more, ushering the others through, "Ok, move, move, move!" he slammed the door shut behind him as soon as everyone was through.

"Gaping won't make this place safer!" the Judge shouted at the humans as they just stared up at the power source…a star burning right above their heads.

"The Eye of Harmony," the Doctor shouted above the raging winds of the star, "Exploding star in the act of becoming a black hole. Time Lord engineering, you rip the star from its orbit, suspend it in a permanent state of decay and…"

"And you're wasting more time!" the Judge snapped, "This is dangerous and daft enough as it is, DON'T waste time right now!"

The Doctor winced but knew she was right, they really DIDN'T have the time, he couldn't keep rushing them on just to pause and give a lecture when he saw fit, "This way," he led them to the other end, to the other door, "Quickly," he ran to the door and tugged on it…

Jumping back when a creature, the one with its hand stuck to its head, was waiting for them, making him shove the door shut once more.

"Back!" the Judge called, "Go back!"

Gregor and Tricky ran for the door, past Clara, who was still staring at the star in shock, and threw the door open, but the petite creature was standing there as well, prompting them to slam that door shut as well.

"There's no way out," Gregor called, "We're trapped!"

Clara reached out as the Doctor tried to run past her to check the door that Gregor and Tricky were trying to keep closed, the Judge trying to get a better look at the creature by the other door, "You're going to tell me now!" she demanded, "If we're going to die in here, tell me what they are!"

The Doctor glanced at the Judge and back to Clara, "I can't," because saying out loud what they were, meant that he'd failed to do the one thing he'd swore to himself he would do once he got the Judge to travel with him, protect the Judge.

"Tell me! What's the use in secrets now?"

"Secrets protect us," the Doctor pulled his arm away, "Secrets make us safe."

"Sometimes," Clara could agree, thinking about what the Judge had told her of her mother and how her father hadn't known she worked for Torchwood, "But sometimes they just muck it all up!" she added, her mind turning to how the Judge had acted around her because of all the things she'd kept from her.

The Judge looked over at that shout, watching the Doctor and Clara intently, knowing that Clara was right, she'd dealt with Clara, but the Doctor…that was still a mess of secrets that he hadn't been told and it…it would always stand in the way of them truly healing and moving past the harms of the past.

"And right now we're not safe!" Clara finished.

"Sensor detects animal DNA," a computerized voice called, making them all look over at Gregor who had a scanner in his hand, "Human core element. Calculating data. Calculating data…"

"No, no!" the Doctor ran for them, "Turn it off!"

"It won't help," the Judge said as she moved closer to where they were in the middle of the catwalk, "Humans may be oblivious, but some things, when shoved right in front of them, they DO notice!" she gestured at her bound arm, as though it was proof to him.

The way she found out what the creatures were…it would just end up making sense to the humans once they got a better look at them.

"Lancashire," the computer stated, "Sass. Identifiable substance. Clara."

"That's me," Clara breathed, stepping towards the door as the two men rushed across the catwalk to check the creature on the other side, leaving her to stare through the window at where the petite creature was raging, slamming its fists and head against the door and glass window.

"The one from the library," the Judge offered, "With one arm," she gestured at her bound arm again, "That was me."

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor breathed, looking between them, tears in his eyes when he looked more at the Judge for that, "I really am…"

The Judge looked up and then looked at him, "You wanted us to check," she told him, not sugar-coating it, not disagreeing that it was his fault, "We're here because of what _you _wanted to do."

"These creatures…" Clara shook her head, "They're us. Because we burn in here, don't we?"

"It isn't just the past leaking out through the time rift," the Doctor admitted, "It's the future," he rubbed his head.

"Do you see Clara," the Judge murmured, "Why it's so hard? I…I did want you here, to keep you safe, but all it does is mean you're in constant danger."

"It's happening again," the Doctor mumbled, "You're going to die again…"

Clara blinked and spun to look at them for that, "What do you mean, _again_?"

The Doctor ran a hand over his face, resting it on his forehead, when his eyes widened and he looked towards the door Tricky and Gregor were at, where the creature that had its hand fused to its head was. He quickly pulled his hand away from his head, staring now more at Gregor and Tricky who were side to side and holding the door shut, much like another creature he'd seen that was fused together in the exact same position. And it hit him.

"Hang on. As long as we interrupt the timeline, this can't happen," he ran to the other door shoving the two men apart, "Don't touch each other, otherwise the future will reassert itself."

"It's going to reassert itself no matter what!" the Judge cried as she moved to the middle of the catwalk, "Doctor, it bled the future, in such a self sustaining ship like the TARDIS, it IS the future that will happen! It won't matter if we're HERE or somewhere else, the TARDIS exploding will turn us into those things no matter where we are. It happens because we're STILL in the TARDIS! We need to get OUT of this box!"

But before the Doctor could even argue, the door that Gregor and Tricky had been beside flew open and the creature stumbled in, reaching for Gregor's backpack as the Doctor helped pull Tricky away, "Gregor! Gregor, let go of the circuit."

"Just let it go!" Tricky agreed, "Gregor!"

Gregor slipped out of his pack and stumbled away, leaving the pack with the creature. Tricky raced forward, crowbar from his own pack in hand, and swung it at the creature, sending it flying over the side of the rail. He ran for the door, intent to get through the now open doorway…when the Siamese creature appeared around the doorframe and swiped its way in, forcing them back. They looked over at the other door just as the glass shattered, the petite creature breaking through, its arms flailing as it tried to find a way in.

"Ok…" the Doctor looked between the two directions, backing up to take the Judge's hand tightly in his own, "Er…"

Tricky rushed at the double creature and slammed into it with the crowbar, sending it falling over the edge of the catwalk, allowing them to run past, towards the other door, but it reached out and grabbed his leg, taking him half-down with it, leaving him dangling off the edge of it.

"Tricky!" Gregor rushed for the young man, making the trio pause by the doorway.

"Don't touch him, or time will reassert itself," the Doctor warned, but it was too late, Gregor ignored him, pulling Tricky back onto the catwalk and helping him up...the two of them fusing, side by side, and morphing, right before their very eyes, into the ashen creature that had just attacked them, "Back!" the Doctor spun around, half-shoving the Judge and Clara through the door and locking it behind them, keeping the new creature in the catwalk area.

"Please tell me you don't still want to go to the engine room after that," the Judge panted, hoping against hope that he'd say no, that he'd say they needed to get out of there, out of the TARDIS, to truly prevent that from happening.

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "We have to get to the engine room. The heart of the TARDIS," he looked left and right and pushed off the wall, leading them down the hall, leaving the two women little option but to follow.

~8~

The two Time Lords and one human gasped, nearly falling right over the side of a cliff in what appeared to be outdoors, the Doctor needing to wrap his arms around the Judge and pull her back against his chest as she nearly fell right over, his breath leaving him at the near call, his arms unwilling to move or let her go at how close that had been.

"We're outside…" Clara frowned, before shaking her head, "No, I mean…it LOOKS like outside," she glanced at the Judge, knowing that they couldn't possibly really be outside, smiling a bit when the Judge let out a long breath and nodded.

"And it looks like there's no way down," the Judge hesitantly leaned over the edge, peering down, it was too steep for them to be able to see if there were hand holes to make their way down, not that they had the time to do so even if there were.

"So what do we do? Time for a plan. Do you have a plan?"

"Well, no," the Doctor admitted, looking around, entirely lost, "No plan, sorry."

"If you don't have a plan, we're dead!"

"We're dead with or without a plan," the Judge just barely refrained from snapping, more irritated with the Doctor than Clara, silently extracting herself from the Doctor's hold, "The TARDIS is in jeopardy, and the longer we stay the more we're exposed to whatever leaks are happening, not just fuel or the past but radiation as well. And if the TARDIS explodes or breaks down or whatever is happening, we're still going to be trapped in it, because, oh look, the door's gone!" she gestured at the rock wall that they'd just entered through to see the door really was gone, "We are dead, no matter what," she shot the Doctor an angry look.

"Yes, we are," he winced, glancing at the Judge, before spinning to Clara, not wanting to have to bear the gaze of his wife, knowing it wouldn't be a good look and not wanting it to be the last look he ever got from her, so he focused on Clara, on distracting himself, on finding out one last puzzle before the end, "So just tell us."

"Tell you what?" Clara shook her head, lost.

"Well, there's no point now, we're about to die, so just tell us who you are."

"You know who I am," she glanced between the Doctor and the Judge, "Her more than you probably," she added with a nod to the Judge, who had apparently known she existed, if not who she was, for ages now.

"Maybe," the Doctor shook his head, "Maybe she knows who you are…but I want to know WHAT you are. I look at you every single day, and I don't understand a thing about you. Why do we keep running into you?"

"Doctor, you invited me, you said..."

"Before that!" he cut in, "We met you in the Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck, and she died saving our lives. And she was you."

"She really wasn't," Clara told him, starting to think he really WAS a madman with a box…

"We can't prove it was her," the Judge agreed with that, "We didn't see her, we only heard her," she glanced at Clara, "But…Victorian London, there was a girl, just like you Clara, exactly like you. Same looks, same voice, same NAME…"

"Yes," the Doctor snapped his fingers at the Judge and pointed at Clara, "A governess who was a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together, she died, and it was my fault, and she was _you_…"

"You're scaring me," Clara murmured, starting to back up.

"What are you, eh?" the Doctor moved slightly in front of the Judge, as though to block her from some sort of an attack, "Are you a trick, a trap?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Clara gasped as she nearly fell over the side of the ledge, only the Judge lunging forward and grabbing her with her free arm to tug her back saving her.

The Doctor eyed Clara as she panted, shaken by that, looked between the Judge and Clara as the Judge shook her head, "You really don't, do you?" he asked Clara quietly.

Clara swallowed hard and looked at him, "I think I'm more scared of you right now than anything else on that TARDIS."

He smiled slightly at that, "You're just Clara, aren't you?" he laughed a bit, poking Clara's cheek till she slapped his hand away from her. He nodded, taking a step back, a thought striking him at Clara's defensive reaction, now determined, "We're not going to die here. This isn't real! It's a snarl," he realized, seeing how Clara acted when she thought she was scared, it was exactly like this, something to push them away.

"What?" Clara looked at the Judge for help, but she shrugged, not understanding either.

"What does a wounded animal do? It tries to scare everyone away. We're close to the engine. The TARDIS is snarling at us, trying to frighten us off. We need to jump."

"Please tell me you're joking," the Judge gave him an incredulous look.

"We'll cross a portal to the engine," he shook his head, gesturing for them to back up with him, towards the rock wall behind them.

"And you're sure about this are you?" the Judge huffed.

"I've piloted this ship for over 900 years," he stated, "I know it."

"And you know what we're likely to find if we enter the engine room, right?" she frowned, "We could be jumping right into the middle of an explosion!"

"I know, I know, just…trust me," he half-begged, holding out a hand to her, "Please."

"You ask an awful lot when you ask people to trust you, you know," she murmured, but took his hand, ignoring the frown at that, at how she hadn't said that she did trust him.

He shook his head, knowing time was really and truly of the essence now, and held out his other hand to Clara, "Ready?" she hesitated a moment but took his hand as well, "Geronimo!" he cried, leading them in a run to the edge of the cliff and into a jump…

The three of them landing with a small stumble in a stark, pristine white room that had nothing but pieces of machinery and equipment suspended in the air as though in the process of being torn apart.

The Doctor let out a breath as he saw it, slowly standing and straightening, his hand absently helping the Judge stand and steady herself in the process though his focus was entirely on the room around them, "The heart of the TARDIS. The engine…" he swallowed hard, "It's already exploded. It must have been the collision with the salvage ship."

"We're not dead," Clara blinked, honestly surprised at that fact.

"The TARDIS suspended the explosion," the Judge frowned at the objects.

"She wrapped her hands around the force," the Doctor nodded, "Froze it."

"So...so it's safe?" Clara asked hopefully.

"No," the Judge stated.

"Temporary fix," the Doctor agreed, "Eventually, this whole place will erupt. There's no way I can save her now."

"Maybe…maybe you're not meant to," the Judge offered, looking at the Doctor, "Maybe this was always meant to happen. Maybe she's not meant to be saved."

"No," the Doctor shook his head, firm, "There HAS to be a way to save her. There HAS to be."

"And what if there isn't?"

"There IS."

The Judge sighed, "Doctor…"

"There IS a way," he insisted, "There has to be. I can't…I can't just let the TARDIS die."

"And why not?" the Judge shook her head.

"She's always been there for me," he replied, not looking at the Judge as he spoke, not seeing the tears forming in her eyes at his words, at the dagger he was sending right into her hearts, "Taken care of me. And now it's my turn and I don't know what to do."

"The things we love rarely ever stay with us," the Judge whispered, a crack in her voice that the Doctor didn't seem to notice, though Clara did, looking between the Doctor and Judge with a frown, "The things we love always hurt us the most."

"But she can't just leave," the Doctor shook his head, his back to the Judge, "She's my home."

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek, looking around the room, a small hardness appearing in her eyes, "She has been for a long time," she muttered.

"Centuries," he murmured, "Just centuries short of a millennia…" he swallowed and turned around, "If I have even a hope of still saving her, I have to try. I CAN'T lose the TARDIS."

But the Judge just stared at him, doing her best not to let the tears fall at what he'd unintentionally confessed about just how long he'd considered _the TARDIS_ to be his home. And what that meant for her, for Gallifrey, for their family.

"We'll…we'll find something out then," Clara determined, moving to put her hand on the Doctor's arm.

But he stiffened, looking down at her hand, feeling an unnatural heat coming from it that wasn't normal for a human, and pulled her hand away, turning it over, his eyes widening as he saw the burns on her hand, nearly forgotten about in all the mess, "Oh, Clara. Oh. You are beautiful!" he grinned holding up her hand, seeing 'Big Friendly Button' written in reverse on her skin, like she had grabbed something about the size of her palm and it burned the words into it, "Beautiful fragile human skin," he turned towards the Judge, holding up Clara's hand to her, "Like parchment!" and grinned at Clara, quickly pulling out the sonic and scanning her hand, "Thank you," he beamed as it beeped, "The rift in time. All the memories leaking out. I need to find the moment we crashed. I need to find...the music," he laughed, turning to run out of the room, Clara right after him, following him along.

The Judge hesitated a moment, looking up at the explosion, shaking her head and letting only one tear fall before she hastily wiped it away and ran after the Doctor.

~8~

The Doctor led them into the console room, the sonic beeping frantically as it landed on a crack in the wall under the console, glowing bright white, vertical, and wide enough to be stepped through with effort. The Doctor positively beamed at that while the Judge just stared at it with a blank face, something that made Clara look back and forth between them with a cautious frown, whenever the two Time Lords had THAT different expressions, she knew it couldn't be good.

"The time rift!" the Doctor cheered, "Recent past. Possible future."

"What are you going to do?" Clara watched as he flicked the sonic and began to flash it along the small grenade-device, writing something in it.

"What do you think he's going to do Clara?" the Judge asked, making Clara's head snap towards her, but not for the biting tone she expected, but the weary and resigned sound to her voice instead.

"He's not gonna…" Clara shook her head, looking between them, "Doctor, you're not going to try and walk through that are you?!"

The Doctor nodded, "And rewrite today, I hope. I've thrown this through the rift before," he held up the small device, "I need to make sure this time. Going to take it in there myself. There might be a certain amount of yelling…"

"It's going to hurt…" Clara began, just barely managing to make her words a statement instead of a question, her gaze flickering to the Judge but she was just staring at the rift, almost like she hadn't heard a word Clara had said.

"Death always does," the Judge muttered, correcting Clara's thoughts, she HAD heard.

The Doctor looked at her, "Judge…"

"You do this, you DIE," she shook her head at him, "You go in there, you kill not just yourself, but ALL of us, right here, and right now, and for what?"

"I HAVE to," he insisted, "I can't just let the TARDIS..."

"Don't," she cut in, waving her hand at the rift, "Just…go. Go...do yourself in just to save your precious TARDIS," she gave him a sad look and turned away, walking away from him.

"Judge," he took a step towards her, as though he wanted to follow her, a deep frown on his face for her actions, for how she was turning her back on him, but the faint sounds from the rift, like static, were getting louder, he didn't have the time. With one last glance at her he turned and hurried towards the rift.

"Wait!" Clara shouted, rushing over to the rift, frowning at him, "All those things you said. How we've met before. How I died..."

"Clara, don't worry," the Doctor spoke, "You'll forget," he glanced over to where the Judge had disappeared, knowing that, while Clara would forget, he and the Judge wouldn't and he was GOING to talk to her about this, there was no more waiting, no more excuses, they were going to talk, "Time mends us. It can mend anything," at least he hoped it would, because right not it seemed like time had only torn him and the Judge further apart.

"I don't want to forget," Clara shook her head, "Not all of it."

"If I rewrite today, you won't remember, I'm sorry, but you won't."

"You'll still have secrets."

He nodded sadly, "Better that way," he offered her one more smile, before turning to the rift and taking a deep breath, diving for it, doing his best not to scream as he shoved his way through the energy raging around the rift, pushing and pushing and pulling himself through it, just enough where he could see the console on the other side, just as everything started to fall apart and the explosions began to go off.

"Is it working?" he could see his past self glance over at Clara to check on her.

"Not so much," past-Clara winced as a small explosion went off near her.

_"_Doctor!" he called, struggling to keep himself in the rift, to get his own attention as his past-self fell against the railing nearby, "Doctor. I'm from your future," he shouted, "We haven't got long. It's a reset dial," he grunted, pulling his arm through and throwing the grenade-device in the air just as he disappeared.

The past-Doctor's eyes widened as he saw the device fly up and clatter on the ground as it rolled over towards where Clara was crouching. He started to run for her as she picked it up and dropped it with a hiss as it burned her, "No!" he cried, lunging for it, needing to catch it and press it, trusting his future-self wouldn't have risked this sort of paradox for nothing, "No!" he grinned widely as he caught it, seeing 'Big Friendly Button' written on the side of it. He looked up at the Judge, holding it up for her to see, "Big friendly button," he laughed, before slamming his hand down on the button, making the world go white around them…

~8~

The Doctor looked up from where he was polishing the rotor, his gaze locked on the Judge as she sat in one of the side chairs, her elbows on her knees, her hands clasped together with her chin resting on it, her eyes closed, a frown on her face like she was regretting and dreading something at the same time.

"I feel exhausted," Clara's voice called as she entered, making her way up to the console just as he had been about to set down his polishing cloth, having polished the same area for the last 10 minutes, "I feel..."

"We've had two days crammed into the space of one?" he guessed.

"Why would you say that?" Clara frowned.

"I don't know," he shrugged, glancing at the Judge as he moved around the console to block her from Clara's view. He knew that, despite Clara not remembering that she and the Judge had apparently resolved their issues, he could tell she might still feel it deep down that they were in a better place, she'd ask the Judge what was wrong and…that wasn't a conversation Clara needed to hear, that was one HE had to have with his wife first, "I say stuff. Ignore me," he glanced at the Judge, seeing her face had scrunched more with Clara's appearance, could sense her thoughts about the girl, and looked back at her, "Do you feel safe?"

"Of course," Clara stated instantly.

"Give me a number out of ten. Ten being whoo-hoo, one being aarrrggh!"

"You're being weird."

"I need to know if you feel safe," he said.

And it was a lie.

HE didn't need to know, but the Judge did. She needed to know that Clara FELT safe with them. Because he knew now, he'd seen it in her mind when she'd explained that she and Clara had worked things out, she'd shared it with him, what it was about, not much but enough. He knew she'd promised herself that she'd keep 'Ollie's' daughter safe, and she needed desperately to know that Clara at least FELT safe with them, especially now that she didn't remember the resolution they'd come to. The Judge needed to know what, despite how harsh she'd been to Clara, Clara still felt safe and protected with them.

"We need to know you're not afraid," he finished.

"Ok?"

"The future. Running away with a spaceman, trapped in a box with him and his ornery wife?" he smiled when Clara gave a light scoff but a smile at his description of the Judge, "Anything could happen to you."

Clara nodded, "That's what I'm counting on," she admitted, "You two…" she paused, as though she were vaguely recalling something, "You make me better," she nodded again, as though those were the right words, "Now push the button," she glanced down at one of the buttons she had seen them use to set off into space and time, before she turned to head back to her rooms and dry her hair more from the shower she'd just had.

The Doctor smiled slightly, tossing the polishing cloth to the side and pulled a lever to send them into the Vortex, before he turned to look at the Judge, "Speaking of pushing buttons," he moved around to lean on the console and face her, "We need to talk."

The Judge let out a long breath, "It was too much to hope you'd forget that part, wasn't it?" she tried to smile but just couldn't muster it.

"I think I've waited a fair bit for you to tell me what was bothering you," he remarked, crossing his arms lightly, "And I think it's time you do tell me."

The Judge lowered her head more, so that her forehead was resting on her clasped hands, rubbing it slightly, "I hate the humans," she told him, admitted it out loud, finally, "And I hate this TARDIS. And I hate…" she swallowed hard, "_Sometimes_, I hate you."

"Why?" he frowned at that.

She looked up at him, "I'm not sure if this makes it better or worse that you genuinely DON'T know why," she shook her head, but she held up a hand to keep him from talking as she straightened in the chair, her hands falling to her legs, absently rubbing her pants in nerves, not wanting to have this conversation with her husband, but knowing she should have done, ages ago, centuries ago, really, way back on Gallifrey, she SHOULD have had this conversation.

But she'd been a coward.

She took a deep breath, steeling herself to have it now.

"You left," she began, "You left Gallifrey."

"You said I could," he frowned more, not sure why this was coming up again, they'd talked about this…

"You said you'd come _back_," she reminded him of something she'd remarked about so long ago, "You said you'd come back to stay, you PROMISED you would. I didn't _want _you to go! I didn't want to let you leave the planet. Why do you think I kept saying NO every time you asked?" she could feel herself getting more upset, her voice getting louder, she knew she should calm down and TALK about it, but it had been building up for so long, "You _kept _asking and asking and asking and I kept saying NO because I thought, maybe, you'd realize that I didn't want you to leave. But you wouldn't STOP! You wouldn't stop asking and each time I said no you'd pout or go silent or give me that disappointed look and you'd not speak to me for longer and longer after and I knew, I KNEW, that you would start to resent me if I kept saying no," she looked away, "I didn't want that, I didn't want you to resent me or our marriage or our children, for keeping you on Galilfrey when you so clearly wanted to be anywhere but. You made me feel so _selfish_ for saying no. So I let you go, I gave you my blessing, and you were just _thrilled_!"

She looked up at him, "Do you have any idea how much that _hurt_? To see my husband so happy that he could finally get away from me? From our family?" she shook her head, feeling tears in her eyes, "Do you have any idea how much it hurt to have you keep asking to leave us? To deal with you after I said no? Like I'd disappointed you in the fact that I thought you actually loved us enough that you wouldn't want to go anymore? The only thing, the ONLY thing that made it bearable to watch you go that first time was knowing that you swore to me that you would come back and stay. I thought maybe it was just a phase, that you'd go out there, see some things, and really come back. Only you never did, because you found those…those bloody _humans_," the amount of venom she managed to put into the word 'humans' shocked even her, "And you NEVER did."

"You NEVER came back to stay!" she stood up now, glaring at him, ignoring how utterly shocked he appeared and for some reason that made her even angrier, that he hadn't even considered the pain she and the children felt to have him disappear and constantly leave them like that, that he never cared to consider what they felt, "You PROMISED ME that you would come back and stay with us. And I hoped, _every single time_, that you came back that you'd stay, but you always ran off. You'd pop in, say hello, have dinner, tell a story or two to the children, and run off again. Back to your humans, because _they_ needed to be looked after. Because _they_ needed your help. Because _they_ needed you. As though WE didn't?!"

She put a hand to her head, feeling a throbbing headache starting from all that she'd been keeping in, Emma was right, it was all going to come out wasn't it?

"You missed our grandchildren being born," she looked at him again, tears swimming even more in her eyes, "You missed awards, promotions, proposals, birthdays! You missed _so much_ because you couldn't be bothered to be there. Because some other adventure was more important to you than Susan being born!" she was going for the low blows now, and she knew it was wrong, but it was just…it had been festering so much, so much that she hadn't even realized, "And you never thought, not once, to take our children with you? And the ONE time you did, you take Susan, and you leave her there? On Earth? Alone? And, of course, you leave her with a human, one she comes to love so much that she wanted to BE one! She DIED because you left her there!"

"And on top of ALL that," she started to pace, the Doctor watching her with wide eyes, "You left us all to deal with the rumors about you. Have you any idea how much it hurt the children to have to defend their father? To have to explain to every single person that commented on the mad Time Lord that ran off, that you were saving people? Our children had to explain to other people, had to defend, how their father could _abandon _them. My god, and then they came to ME, and I had to promise them, I had to swear that their father still _loved_ them, I had to make up excused for YOU, about why you missed things. I had to find a way to make them feel like it wasn't THEIR fault, that it wasn't OUR fault that you never came back for good. And I failed, because I knew that all of them, that _I_, felt like there was something wrong with US, that WE weren't good enough for you to stay."

THAT was another reason she and her children had bonded when they were older, they were all feeling abandoned by him, feeling upset that he'd just run off and kept running off. They all felt heartsbroken when he left, the children had flocked to her, at different times, for different reasons, needing her comfort, needing a parent and she was the only one they had to go to. And then, as they got used to him constantly leaving, the children had grown closer to her, wanting to support her, wanting to show her that THEY still loved her.

THAT had broken her hearts, that her children thought that their father was gone because he didn't love their mother any longer, that he wanted to be away from HER. Because she made damn sure that they never ever thought (or never thought for long) that he didn't love THEM, he would never ever leave his children like that.

"_We_ needed you, we were your _family_," she stopped her pacing, looking right at him but not seeing the tears in his eyes, "And you picked the _humans_ over us every single time! And you wonder why I hate them?" she shook her head, scoffing at how absurd that was, "They took you away from us!" she gestured vaguely in the direction that Clara had gone in, "Your companions, your beloved companions, the ones that you wanted at your side instead of your family. Your _children of time_, the ones you spent more time around than your own children! And for us to sit there and listen to story after story about THEM? And then, I come to Earth, and I meet Jack and I meet Rose and do you know what their reaction to me is? Shock. I could understand if it was because they didn't think I survived the war, but it wasn't even that, it wasn't always that, it was shock, from Jack, that you were even married! You NEVER told your companions a single thing about us. Alluded to us, but you never told them a single story about us? About your children? As though that makes me feel like you cared? To know we were so easily forgotten that, not only could you not come visit more often or stay, but that you barely even mentioned us to the others that were so infinitely more important to you than us?!"

"I don't know how to act around the humans, because I look at them, and I see the species you favor over your own people," she admitted, the tears finally falling, "I look at the Earth and I think of the planet you loved more than your own planet. I see the companions and…_all_ I can think about is that these are the people that pulled you away from us. that didn't even know we existed because you never said. You call them exceptional and amazing and brilliant and…I don't know how I can. Half the time I WANT to see that, I want them to be brilliant, because then, maybe, just maybe, you were right to want to be around them, maybe they _were_ worth knowing, worth all of it. But the other half of the time, I don't want them to be anything like that, because I don't want them to have been so brilliant you wanted to be with them more than us, I don't want them to be worth leaving your family. I look at them and I don't see what you do, and I can't understand how, in any universe, you could pick them over your family."

"And the TARDIS?" she scoffed, nearly laughing bitterly at it, "Your _home_?" she let out a strangled sob at that, "We HAD a home, we had one…and you threw it away for _a box_. You threw us all away, for adventures and humans," she tried to gain her breath back, "Sometimes I actually hate this box, because it was what gave you an escape, a means to leave. And it was the reason you never came back home. What need did you have for two homes? Why come to your first home when you so clearly loved your second one more? You said it had been your home for centuries, that's centuries that you actually had a HOME with US...and you still considered this box more a home to you than Gallifrey, than your family. And now? Gallifrey is GONE, our HOME is gone, and all that we had left, according to you, is this box. And you wanted to save it SO badly, because it's home. But it isn't MY home! It's YOURS. I would be home wherever YOU are, but I wanted a permanent home! I wanted a house and children and a marriage and you wanted this box, and humans, and adventure instead," she gasped for air, "Even when the TARDIS was exploding just now, you wanted to save her so badly instead of even _considering_ that we could find somewhere else to live, that we could maybe be a family again, with each other…"

She closed her and bit her lip hard, knowing this had gotten too out of hand, she shouldn't have said all that, she shouldn't have shouted it all. It wasn't fair to him to spill all that out in one go, to do so with so much yelling and so quickly that he couldn't even respond.

But there was just one more thing to say, the one thing that encompassed all she'd shouted, and what truly broke the Doctor's hearts was that it came out in a pained whisper, "The humans, your companions, are the reasons you never came back, and the TARDIS is the reason you left…how can you expect me not to hate them for tearing apart everything we had?"

THAT was the other half of why she had such issues with Clara. She looked at the girl and she saw the Doctor's companion, and the Doctor's companions were the reasons he stayed away so much. He had all these wonderful adventures with the humans, that he didn't even think to share with his family except in stories. These humans were the ones her husband had picked to be around more than his family. WHY would she like them?

She tried, she tried so hard not to see the humans like that. It was one reason she'd stayed in Torchwood, she'd wanted to TRY and get to know the humans, to know them as just that, as humans, and to see them as something that hadn't affected her marriage or her family. She knew if she went with the Doctor she'd not be able to handle Rose or any of the companions. It was too soon after the war, too soon after losing her children, too soon after everything. She had worked so hard in Torchwood, but for the majority of her first year with them she'd been treated as a potentially hostile alien, then with Jack she'd been focused on the Ghost Shift and trying to stop it, because she knew anything trying to cross over from the Void was deadly, and likely an enemy of the Time Lords. She focused on the enemy instead of the humans.

She knew she hadn't sounded normal to the Doctor when she'd spoken of tethering the timeline to herself, she hadn't. She had tied that timeline to herself because she had WANTED to die. Give the Doctor his last companion and then be freed from having to see him with his companions and travelling with them even now. She wanted to try and free both of them, let him be free to travel around with the humans and do what he'd been doing for centuries without the possibility of returning home being the only difference. And give herself the freedom of not having to see him with the companions, of not having to watch him walk away from her like he always had to travel with them. She'd wanted to die saving Rose, so he could have his humans and she wouldn't have to deal with them any longer.

But of course, her husband couldn't let her suffering end like that, could he?

"I'm sorry," she let out a quiet mumble, her eyes squeezed closed. She didn't even know why SHE was apologizing. She'd just spent the last few minutes ranting to HIM about him and how he'd harmed her…and now she was apologizing. It was probably for how it came across but…it was centuries building now, "It shouldn't have come out like that."

She'd always had hope, during her time on Gallifrey that this time he stopped in would be the last one, the one he stayed for. And then the war happened, and she hadn't had time to think about it, about anything except worrying for her children, trying to keep herself alive, and silently cursing her husband for either not knowing about the war (unlikely) or not wanting to fight (more likely). And then it had ended and Gallifrey was gone and she had chosen to stay in Torchwood and it was almost like there was no point to telling him any longer.

But then she'd started to travel with him, to be constantly around his companions and seeing the adventures he was used to. She didn't like it, she liked stability, she didn't like all the danger, all the travelling, all the humans and companions and all the reminders of the life he'd had to himself while she was on Gallifrey. And that's all it was.

The TARDIS, the humans, the companions, the adventures, the danger, it was all reminders of the stories he would tell when he came to visit, never to stay. All the stories he would tell THEM about his humans, but stories he would never tell the humans about THEM. And now she was in the middle of it and she wanted to like it, so she could try and say that she understood why he wanted that life…but she didn't want to like it because that meant she was saying it was ok that he left them, and it wasn't.

She was constantly being torn apart and pulled in different directions about the Doctor and his life. Like how Clara pulled her apart in how she wanted her safe but didn't want her there, wanted her there to keep her safe but it put her in danger. It was the same on a larger scale, it was all tearing her apart.

Because this was exactly what had torn their family apart and she didn't want this to be a good thing.

"No," the Doctor walked right over to her, pulling her into his arms, "I'M sorry, I'm so sorry, I really truly am," he held her tightly, his eyes filled with tears that were just starting to fall.

He never…

He felt like such a fool that he'd never even considered…

He closed his eyes, breathing out a sigh of relief when she put her arms around him too, his hearts breaking though when she started to cry and sob in his shoulder, "I'm so sorry, I…this is all my fault."

It wasn't ALL his fault…but he knew that it wouldn't be fair to say it was partly his wife's fault either. HE hadn't been the most understanding when she'd say no to letting him leave. What other choice did she have but to let him go when he hadn't made it easy to say no? He HAD offered her to come with him, but he KNEW she preferred stability and routine, he knew she'd be unhappy going off to travel like he had. Right now…she was there because there was little else she could do.

She wanted to work on their marriage, so she'd agreed to travel with him.

Because, yet again, he hadn't really given her a choice or compromised. He tried to rationalize it in his mind, for all of one second, that he'd given in and lived the quiet, stable life on Gallifrey for their marriage and as the children grew, that he deserved his adventures after they were old enough, and after the war. But that was wrong.

Because he hadn't even tried to offer staying on Earth WITH her to work on their marriage. To get some sort of stability first before taking her into the TARDIS. He hadn't thought to try and wean her into this life. He hadn't left her much of an option in how they'd work out their marriage. Either she came with him or she saw him periodically. He'd done the SAME thing he had on Gallifrey to her on Earth, he kept leaving. And even though he knew it was because she didn't want to travel with him, he hadn't thought to stay with her instead.

He was a selfish man, he wasn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but this was his wife and he should have tried more. What he'd done to her wasn't fair, either on Gallifrey in how he left and came back, or now in how he'd basically implied she HAD to travel with him because he wasn't going to settle down on Earth.

He might think, in his mind, that he'd pick her over the TARDIS…but that didn't mean he wasn't going to fight tooth and nail to have BOTH. And that was wrong. He couldn't 'have his cake and eat it too' as the humans would say.

His wife was always trying, to understand him, to support him, she even gave in and let him leave Gallifrey though now he knew it killed her to do it, she was there right now to try and work on their marriage. He realized too late that, perhaps a little of her staying on Earth had been a test, to see if he had changed, grown, matured, understood…that if he just stayed on Earth it meant he was willing to compromise. But he'd failed that test, he just kept coming and going, just like on Gallifrey.

"It's not ALL your fault," the Judge murmured.

"Don't do that," he whispered, "This…this started because I wanted to do what _I_ wanted, and I made you feel like you had to agree or you'd lose me somehow," he understood that now, "And I didn't see that what I wanted hurt you. Life on Gallifrey…it wouldn't have been SO bad to stay there," he'd not have been happy to not ever get to travel the Universe, but…looking back now, now that his children were dead and his planet was gone, he would give anything to have that now, to have his family and his home and his planet and everything back.

"Hindsight is 20/20," she pulled away slightly, sensing his thoughts.

Now that he'd lost it all, he regretted ever having left it in the first place.

He looked down at her, his hand on her cheek, the tears still in her eyes, still falling, and he knew he hurt her deeply if all of that came out so violently, she'd been holding it in for centuries, and that wasn't fair to her. He closed his eyes, realizing now how hard he'd made it for her, all the little remarks he'd make about how the TARDIS was a home, how the humans were brilliant, every little remark that ever had her looking away or flinching or upset by raced through his mind, always something to do with a memory of how he'd let or how he boasted about the humans or the TARDIS.

It was all just another reminder to her that he had, in her mind, chosen the TARDIS and humans over their home and family.

"I'm not…I'm not trying to excuse what I did," he began, picking his words carefully, "Because…you're right, I…I did spend more time with the humans than our children or people, I did miss too many things I can never make up for or apologize enough for. I did base more of my life in this TARDIS than our home, I can never ever give that back to you," he swallowed hard, a tear falling from his eye, "But our children…I _couldn't_ bring them with me, I couldn't do it, I couldn't talk about them or you. I knew, I KNEW it would be dangerous and I couldn't…I didn't want to risk their lives, I didn't want to risk talking about them and having one of my enemies find out you all existed, to have them try and target you. I tried to keep you all safe, cos...you're right, my companions," he shook his head, "Human minds are weaker than ours, I've had companions fall for hypnotism and mind control and I just...I couldn't risk them telling the wrong person the right information. I didn't talk about them, cos I didn't want them to be a target or bait. And I didn't take them with me cos...cos I KNEW it would be dangerous. I still don't know how Susan managed to make me take her along and I regret every day the dangers I put her in. I wanted to protect them, tell them stories about it instead of put them in the line of fire. Susan…" he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "THAT proved to me that I couldn't take my family with me. The humans…I'm a monster to say this, I think every parent, deep in their hearts, no matter how much they never ever want this to happen to anyone, never wants THEIR child to be the one in danger. The humans…they weren't family, if…if something happened to them…not my family, anything but MY family," he opened his eyes, filled with tears to admit something as dark as that, that he valued the human life less than the life of his children, but it couldn't be helped, he never ever wanted any life to end, but if he had to pick between his children or a human…his child every time. It was the only way to keep everyone safe, to not put his children in danger, but to still not travel alone, he picked the humans to keep his children safe, he could save a human life if it was just a human in danger, he couldn't do it if it was between a human or his child, "I can never take back what I did to you and our children, I'm…I'm so sorry it got to that point, I didn't know. I swear I didn't know…"

The Judge felt tears coming more at seeing him start to break down, "We never said a word," she murmured, which was why it was partially her fault anyway, "We didn't want to taint your adventures. We didn't want to make you feel guilty for having them. You always told the children never to mock someone else for what they loved to do, to never make them feel less about themselves for liking something others didn't. They took that to hearts, with you. We thought…one day, you'd come back and you'd stay with us and we'd be a family again. It just…"

"Never happened," he swallowed hard, understanding why they'd never said anything. His wife and children wouldn't try to guilt him into staying, because the Judge was right, it would have made him a little resentful. They wouldn't have wanted to make his trips seem pointless or to degrade them in comparison to what he was doing to them. They wanted him to be happy…they had just hoped that, one day, he'd find happiness with them.

He winced at that, closing his eyes, realizing how they must have felt at that, to think that, even for a moment, THEY weren't the only source of his happiness. Because they were, his children were the suns in his Universe, the brightest lights ever. And it killed him now to think that he'd made them feel that way even for a moment, that they weren't the most important things to him. He felt his hearts swelling more for what the Judge had revealed, that even, through all that, she still made sure that they believed he loved them with both his hearts. Even when her hearts were breaking, she'd made sure to keep him in their hearts.

"Would it have?" the Judge whispered, her voice so quiet he almost missed it.

But he knew what she was asking, what she NEEDED to know, for them to move past this. He doubted very much it would be instant. Her resentment for humans had been festering for centuries, she would still look at them as though trying to see what was so wonderful about them that they could pull him away from their family. She would still make snipes about them, but she might, MIGHT, just be a little easier on them, a little more understanding…if she knew that, while they had initially pulled him away from Gallifrey, that SHE and their family would have pulled him back.

"Yes," he told her instantly, the truth of it hitting him squarely in the gut, it was not a lie, not even a fib, not even a guess, he knew, "It would have," he nodded, "Blood calling to blood through time and space," he murmured, thinking about Emma and Hila, "There is nothing more important than family," he swallowed hard, "I shouldn't have taken mine for granted."

"No," the Judge agreed, "You shouldn't have," she leaned in and hugged him once more, resting her head on his chest, the tears still falling, but not as powerfully as before, all the shouting and crying having drained her of the little energy she had left after that adventure and time reversing and all, "That's why I'm here," she admitted, her heart in her throat, "I saw Torchwood falling apart," she sniffled slightly, "And mend together again. And I didn't want us to be the same. I didn't want to…" she cut her words off, though he knew that she likely would have said something to the affect of what he'd done on Gallifrey and taking family for granted, "I didn't want to let my dislike of travel keep us from healing. I wanted to understand, I WANT to understand and…and make peace with all of this. And I couldn't until I experienced it," she looked up at him, "I…I still can't quite understand, but…I'm _trying_."

He nodded softly, "You won't be the only one to," he promised, swearing that he would try for less…dangerous trips and perhaps, more on earth, more calm ones, more ones where…where they could be husband and wife again. He could give her stability, even in the TARDIS, he knew he could. He was going to have to try harder.

The Judge gave him a small smile for that and bowed her head, semi-snuggling into his embrace once more, "I missed my husband," she added after a moment of quiet, only the sound of the TARDIS's gentle humming around them.

He smiled softly at that, dropping his head to press a kiss to the top of her hair as they swayed slightly, "I missed my wife," he told her, "_And I will never leave you again, Carah,_" he swore in Gallifreyan, "_I will never, ever take our family for granted._"

It might not mean much now, he knew, what with their family being only the two of them, having lost so much of his home and family now, but he swore he would never let it happen again. He was going to hold onto what he had left with everything he had and he would never abandon her again.

And maybe, one day, he could prove that to her.

A/N: :') A really...sad moment :( But I really wanted to finally get the Judge's issue with humans out there. She sees them as the reason her husband never really came home, why he kept leaving. He was so obsessed with Humans and showing them the Universe that she felt like he was picking them over their family, over their own children :( I hope it made sense why she was so against humans and even a little against the TARDIS and travelling. All her little digs about the comments and questions they make stem from a place of either 1. trying to subtly show the Doctor how 'unworthy' they were, almost like she's questioning 'THIS is why you left us? for stupid apes?' and 2. semi-reminding herself that, no matter how 'awesome/brilliant' he might think they are, or that she might semi-almost-see them as, she needs to remember that THESE are the people that stole her husband away :( She has...a lot of conflicting thoughts about them. She wants to understand, so that it wasn't worthless what he did in traveling with the humans, but at the same time she doesn't want to give him a justification to have left their family like that :( I actually think it got worse when Clara joined, because she became more of an official companion than what the Ponds had been reduced to, and now she has to deal with, more frequently than the Ponds, an actual companion that's really there to stay and WANTS to be there, and it's a reminder of all the other companions that the Doctor left the family to go have adventures with :( It's a complicated situation, but I'm hopeful that the Judge, now that it's out in the open, will be able to try and work past it (with the Doctor's help) and start to see humans without the negative connotation to their species in her mind as being the reason that her family fell apart :(

I also semi-wanted it to actually BE the Doctor's fault in a small way. He's said repeatedly in the show that he's a selfish man, and I wanted to explore that in the sense he wanted a family to come back to...but he also wanted his adventures with humans. He doesn't want to settle on Earth, and so he subconsciously never stays with the Judge very long when he visits either, sort of making it clear that the only way to work is if she comes with him because he won't stay there with her. He NOW realizes how it comes across to her and he's going to do some deep thinking about settling down and if he ever would, for her, but I did want him to sort of realize that he was being a tiny bit selfish in how he acted. Even if the Judge was a bit selfish in keeping him on Gallifrey, she eventually let him go, he just never stopped and never kept his promise to return to stay :(

He isn't perfect, neither is the Judge, he's unconsciously selfish, she's frustratedly rude :)

As for how late this chapter was, I'm so sorry :( I think I have a serious problem lol. I really can't stand not updating every day, 2 years of nonstop updates has made me feel antsy not doing it. But with changes in work schedules it kept getting harder to find time to write/edit, but I spent the weekend coming up with a new process that I'm hoping will work better. I'm not making any promises, but I'm hoping that, by the time I'm finished posting this story, I'll be able to update daily again. I'm going to try and use the next two weeks or so to see if my new process works and go from there :) But I'm hopeful :)

Some notes on reviews...

Aww thanks! :) I smiled when you said Pied Piper, because she's an OC in my Bedtime Stories series and I loved the irony of that ^-^

I can say that we'll see exactly what Clara will be to the Doctor and Judge in Crimson Horror, but I think you'll definitely like it especially ;)

Hmm...any show and not counting my OCs...I'd want to actually hug Regina from Once Upon a Time, during quite a few moments, mostly when she lost Daniel. But then pretty much any time someone accused her of doing evil when she didn't, every time her son turned his back on her for his 'real' mom, and practically throughout the whole of Season 4 lol. There's SO many occasions for her...so probably a time period of just her entire life lol :)

I'm not sure, I've seen a few episodes of Dead Like Me, but it didn't really grip me so I can't say if I'd do a story for it, there's always a chance I'll rewatch it in the future and feel differently though :)

He definitely wants to salvage the relationship, I think right here is where he realizes just how long their relationship hasn't been as great as he thought it was, so that'll be a wake up call he needs to realize there's more to be worked on than he thought :)


	23. The Crimson Horror - Part 1

A/N: Just to warn, this chapter is going to try and follow the sequence of events from the Doctor/Judge's POV, the 'flashback' moments first through to the rest of the episode. And...there may be a bit of a surprise for you all at the end ;)

~8~

The Crimson Horror - Part 1

The Judge let out a breath as the TARDIS finally set down after a rather bumpy trip in the Vortex, a trip that was far more bumpy than necessary. She could guess why, especially when it only smoothed out after SHE had stepped away from the console and let the Doctor take control. The TARDIS was cross with her.

She could understand why, she'd started venting to the Doctor about her issues with his travels a short while ago and ever since then the TARDIS had been acting up whenever SHE tried to use it. If the box was trying to make her feel guilty, it was failing because she only grew more irritated as it went on. She HAD shouted that she hated the TARDIS at times, knew the box likely hadn't taken that well, especially when the box itself seemed cross with Clara being there. She got the sense that the box wouldn't ease up on any female companions until it was certain that there was nothing in them that was attracted to the Doctor, that might pose trouble for she and the Doctor trying to reconcile. She felt only a twinge of guilt at that, that the TARDIS had been trying to help and she'd shouted insults at the box. But overall, who was the more slighted party?

SHE had lost her husband to the box, her children their father, their marriage strained because of his adventures in THAT box.

Perhaps the box ought to see her quest with Clara as a means of making it up to the wounded Time Lady and less about being insulted that she wasn't favored by said Time Lady when the box had done little to actually help her save make a room for her.

The box was cross with her, she was cross with the box, but…at least she was mending with the others. She was trying, hard, harder than before, to ease up on Clara. The girl had no idea why, she'd suspect, because her memories of their shouting match in the broken TARDIS had been mostly erased, but she could see in Clara that the girl felt a sort of new respect for her, an understanding. She didn't seem as surprised when she would cut off a snide remark, take a breath, and try to rephrase it. But Clara herself seemed to do the same, subconsciously, stop herself asking a question and rephrasing it to be less 'dim' and more like she was just trying to gauge if her assumptions were correct. She doubted Clara understood why she was doing it, but things were getting…better, slowly, very slowly, but she was trying to improve.

The Doctor was another thing entirely. She understood why he hadn't taken their children with him in his travels, she understood his reasons for it, was thankful that he at least understood the danger he had been in in terms of not wanting their children to be there with him for it. She had gotten him to understand that all the stories he told the children about it, about the dangers, came across as more heroic than he intended (or perhaps he did want them to see him like that) and it made them hurt more that he didn't want them go to with him. He glossed over the true danger, made it seem like a knight in shining armor come to slay the dragon, good always won and so on. It made the adventures into more than what they were, made the children feel distressed that he hadn't wanted to actually SHARE that with them. He understood now, but it wouldn't erase the pain from the past.

Still, she appreciated why he hadn't taken the children with him. She could admit that she might have suspected that was the reason when he didn't take any other grandchild after Susan, despite them asking, using Susan as an example to go…whereas he used Susan as an example not to take them. She would be lying if she said that she wanted the children to go with him, she didn't even want HIM to go with him she did not want the children to have gone on those adventures and, as they grew, they started to realize they didn't want to go either. But still…he understood.

That was all she had wanted, was for him to understand why she said no, why she was so…hard…on the humans. Understanding meant the first step to healing, just like they'd begun to heal little by little after she admitted that she didn't know how to act around him. He'd understood and backed off, had reapproached her little by little, built up her comfort with being around him. And now he understood how deeply hurt she'd been by his adventures, by his departures, by how he hadn't kept the one promise she'd ever wanted him to keep in coming back to stay. He knew he would have done it eventually, and now she did too, but the point was that it hadn't happened, eventually never came, the war happened before it.

But it was allowing them the freedom to start healing now, now that everything was out in the open finally. She had to scold herself though, it would have started long ago, centuries ago, if she'd just sat him down on Gallifrey to speak to him about it. But he had admitted that she was right, she did know him and how he'd act. The adventures were something he hadn't felt like he could give up just yet, and to ask him to stop, it would have just made him itch to go out again later. She should have brought this up to him with the Ponds at least, when she'd actually started to travel with him, perhaps it would have made him more likely to leave the Ponds on Earth for good, to get her used to travelling just them and then slowly taken on a companion when she was ready, made it so that they spent more time around other aliens before weaning her onto humans.

But she'd been silent, so the pain just kept growing and bottling up through all that time.

It was out now, and that was what she had to focus on. The Doctor now knew…everything, every pain and every issue she had. She had no more secrets to keep from him, it was all laid out for him and they could start to sift through it, work through it, build from him. And…

She was relieved, she was happy that they would finally get that chance. All throughout their efforts to try and reconcile and grow closer, her issue with the humans had always felt like something holding her back, keeping her away from him, because the humans were such a large part of his life she wasn't sure she could accept that back, not after the war, not after eventually never came. But she saw the understanding in his eyes, she saw how hurt he was, how sorry, and she saw the realization of how he'd acted. And now she was…she was looking forward to building them up again.

She'd been so scared that they'd work towards reconciliation, that they'd grow close to what they'd been, and then something with the humans would come up and it would all just shatter again. She'd held back, been frightened that their efforts to build wouldn't amount to anything in the end. But he was aware now, and she knew he meant to keep his promise to her, he wouldn't ever take her for granted again, nor her feelings. They truly were on the same page now, both actively wanting to work through every pain, and she wanted that.

She…she hadn't realized just how much she really HAD missed her husband till she'd whispered it to him after her shouting bout. She'd been around him for a long time now, they'd been working on reestablishing their closeness, their comfort with each other, their…friendship. They still called each other husband and wife, but they hadn't acted much like it and she knew it was partly her doing. But now? She had come to a realization as well, that she truly did miss her husband. She missed…she missed him holding her and comforting her, missed the freedom she had to interact with him in a closer manner than others did. She missed his presence and his warmth and…she missed him being her husband and more of the things that came with that.

She looked up when the Doctor suddenly clapped, grinning widely as he looked at her and Clara, "We're here!" he cheered, hurrying to her and taking her hand, pulling her towards the door and grabbing a bowler hat off one of the levers as he passed. He plopped it on his head and dashed outside, she and Clara following…only for his grin to slip, "Ok, not London 1893. Yorkshire 1893. Near enough."

He turned, about to close the door to the TARDIS after Clara stepped out but paused, just staring at the Judge, making her frown, "What?" she looked down at her outfit. It was a simple Victorian gown, exactly like the one she'd worn the last time they'd been in the Victorian era, red plaid and all.

"Nothing," he smiled, shaking his head, "I mean…you look lovely," he offered.

She smiled at him, reaching out to pat his bowtie straight, "You as well," she told him, making him beam as he leaned in just a little more, leaned closer to her to reach the door and shut it behind her.

"You're making a habit of this," Clara called, turning to face them, wearing a tight black dress with a flowing black skirt and red accents, her hair curled with a small hat on, "Getting us lost."

"Sorry," he winced, "It's much better than it used to be," he remarked, his arm sliding absently around the Judge's waist as they began to walk towards Clara, "I once spent a hell of a long time trying to get a gobby Australian to Heathrow Airport."

"What for?"

"Search me. Anyway..."

They nearly jumped when a woman's scream sounded from down the alley they'd parked in.

"Please tell me that wasn't…" the Judge began, a bit of a sigh to her voice.

"It was," the Doctor actually seemed to frown at that, glancing at the Judge and then the end of the ally as though actually debating whether they should go investigate or not.

And he was.

He'd promised himself that he would pick more…stable trips, ones that were more just walking about, exploring, without danger. He'd wanted to pick relatively calm time periods, safe locations. He shouldn't have just started travelling all willy-nilly, he knew that now. He shouldn't have set the TARDIS on mystery tour so much, because he knew that the Judge would likely agree to step out of the TARDIS, come what may, due to his love of the adventures and not wanting to hold him back. But he should have realized she wouldn't appreciate something like that. He was an odd Time Lord, his companions eager to see anything that wasn't just earth, but the Judge was his wife and she had to come above his companion. He had had…centuries of travelling however he wanted, seeing whatever he wanted, it was time to grow up and realize it wasn't just about him any longer.

He wanted her to be comfortable, he wanted to slowly wean her into the adventures and danger, adventures preferably before danger for a time. And this? This scream, it likely meant some sort of danger and he just…he'd just wanted a calm trip. HE had actually wanted a CALM trip for once, just to show her, to prove to her that he could do it, that he could pick one like it just for her, that he could DO this…

'_Thank you,_' he heard in his mind, one of the rare times the Judge actually spoke to him in his mind instead of out loud or in Gallifreyan. So rare was it that he nearly jumped at the sound of it, making him look over at her to see her actually smiling at him.

'_For what?_' he frowned, not sure what she was thanking him for, all his plans were going up in flames because Clara, he knew, would want to see what happened and to help and if he tried to talk them back to the TARDIS Clara would run ahead and leave them no choice and he'd get caught up and…

His rambling thoughts were cut off by the Judge putting her hand on his, '_For trying,_' she told him, she'd heard it, his conflicting thoughts. She'd seen in his mind what he'd wanted for this trip and WHY he wanted it so badly that he was actually considering not getting involved, '_That, Theta, means more to me than you could possibly know._'

THAT was a step in the right direction for them, a step towards really healing. To know that he was actually aware of how she felt and that he was taking it into consideration now? It was just…

She felt like she might actually cry at how much that meant to her.

'_YOU mean more to me than you know Carah,_' he emphasized, '_I really would do anything for you._'

He would, he realized it now. On Gallifrey…as much as he felt like an utter tosser for thinking this…he hadn't felt that way. He'd HAD her on Gallifrey, he'd had everything, and…she'd been right, he'd thrown it all away for his adventures, missed SO much of his children's lives because of it. And now that it was all gone, ALL he wanted was it back, all of it. And he'd been given a blessing, one single light in the dark in having his wife back. And to know how badly she'd felt for so long, because of him, it made having her there WITH him so much more important. She was giving him this one change to make amends, for them to forgive each other and be together and that just…it made his hearts both swell and squeeze at the chance, he didn't want to give it up. Now that Gallifrey was gone, now that it was just them…he truly was appreciating everything about her so much more, and he truly felt now what he hadn't felt (or hadn't realized he'd felt) on Gallifrey…

He really would do anything for her.

'_Now,_' she murmured, '_We should see if they need help,_' she remarked, giving in this time.

She was trying, so hard, to try and think of the humans, instead of just as humans, but as…someone's child. She doubted it would do much for initial reactions, but if she just kept thinking about someone as a mother or a child then, maybe, she'd be able to look at them more like that, feel better about them, than to just see humans. She could remember what the Doctor had told her once, about when the TARDIS had turned human for a bit, that she always brought him where he needed to go.

If they appeared there, right when someone was screaming, it probably meant it was alien in nature, or something threatening, and the humans would be out of their depth…someone's child would get hurt if they didn't help.

And…he was trying to make the adventures more demure, for her, the least she could do was try and accept the adventures if they happened to pop up along the way.

'_I love you,_' he beamed at her, leaning in to give her a quick peck on the lips, something he'd seemed to do when he was overcome with emotion, something he'd done ever since he'd pulled her and Clara into the console room and away from the creature that was about to attack them. It was quick, over before it started, but…it did still shock her each time he did it.

They hadn't exactly kissed-kissed, like the humans would call it, a too-fast peck here and there, but…she felt herself smile at it, it was a step, that was it and that was good. Steps in the right direction would eventually get them there. The journey of a thousand miles began with a single step after all, and she liked to think they had quite a few steps behind them by now.

"Brave heart, Clara!" the Doctor warned the girl before he took off down the alley, the Judge's hand firmly in his own as they ran.

~8~

A body floating in the canal might have been enough of a human crime for the Doctor to back away and return them to the TARDIS to find another Victorian location…had it not been for the fact that said body's skin was a raw red, nearly candy colored, and they could see, from where a small boat with police had gone to retrieve it, when it was turned over, the eyes were fixed wide open, the mouth equally so.

This was clearly NOT a human crime, nothing about the expression on the fallen man's face nor his skin screamed human to the trio that peered down over the side of the canal at it, along with a group of other humans.

"It's another one!" a man started to scream from the other end of the gathering, pulling the attention of the Time Lords and Clara over to him, "Don't you see? Another victim!" he tried to run to the edge of the canal's overlook once more when two police rushed over to him and grabbed him, pulling him back, just making the man more frustrated, knowing he'd be hauled off and silenced, knowing that the people were staring at him with blank and incredulous expressions, "Why won't any one of you listen?!"

The Doctor glanced at the Judge, waiting a moment till she gave him a small nod, before lifting her hand to his lips to kiss it quickly in thanks, before he turned to the man and called out, "We'll listen."

The man glanced at the two police before yanking himself out of their hold with a glare and walking over to the trio, "Not here," he murmured, turning to lead them away from the canal, apparently having a direction and place to go in mind as he walked with purpose, not saying a word till he'd brought them to the gates of a rather large factory.

"And what's so special about here?" Clara asked him, "That we can only talk here?"

The man let out a breath, "This factory belongs to Mrs. Winifred Gillyflower. An astonishing woman, prize-winning chemist, and mechanical engineer. Could set up shop anywhere, build anything, so why…"

"Why has she decided to open up a…" the Doctor leaned back to look at the sign for 'Sweetville' that was posted right next to the gates, "_Match factory_ in her old home town?" he guessed.

The man nodded, "And no one who ever goes to live there ever seems to come out."

"So a sinister Willy Wonka then?" the Judge mused, making the Doctor grin despite the confused look on the other man's face.

"It DOES have the name, doesn't it?" the Doctor laughed, "Sweetville, chocolate is sweet."

"And their skin," Clara mumbled, "It was like candy apple red…"

"What on God's green Earth are you lot talking about?" the man shook his head.

The Doctor let out a faint chuckle and turned to him, holding out his hand, "Dr. John Smith, at your service," he shook the man's hand, "And this is my wife…Judy," he grinned widely, especially when the Judge rolled her eyes at that, "And our friend Clara," he added, allowing the two women to shake the man's hand.

"Edmund Thursday," he introduced himself.

"Well Edmund," the Doctor stepped beside him and draped an arm around the man's shoulder, turning to lead him off, "Tell us everything you know about this Mrs. Gillyflower and Sweetville."

The Judge and Clara looked at each other a moment before starting to head after the two men.

~8~

Edmund had, somehow, managed to get them a moment with the town coroner, to allow them to look at the body. The Judge wasn't quite so impressed that they'd gotten the moment though, not when the Doctor had psychic paper that made it seem like they were all police, well, that he and Edmund were police visiting with their wives. She wouldn't lie and say she snorted when Clara had eyed Edmund with a bit of apprehension, hoping they wouldn't have to actually kiss or anything like that. But it had gotten them in, the coroner himself a bit wary to allow the women in, but the Doctor had vouched that they both had rather strong stomachs and that it would be fine. Until someone actually came to claim the body there was no relatives they had to worry about prohibiting them from examining the remains. Edmund had briefly mentioned that he had a brother at that remark.

Edmund hadn't been quite as helpful as she was sure the Doctor had hoped the man would be. He didn't really know much about the factory or Mrs. Gillyflower beyond what he'd initially told them, couldn't know more without being inside and, being that he wasn't a police officer hadn't been able to actually see the bodies up close till now. All he really knew was that Gillyflower held sermons that claimed the end of the world was coming, that she would allow people into the safe haven of her factory, to work there in exchange for protection, and that she only appeared to select the most handsome and lovely as patrons. He had tried to get into the factory, but hadn't been deemed handsome enough apparently and had been considering sending in one of his investigative partners, a young woman that was rather cute (the man had flushed at that remark) to allow him an in, to open the gates or a back door once she was inside. But thankfully they had come around to help as he hadn't wanted to endanger the woman like that, especially when he didn't know what happened.

He'd remarked that he kept tabs of the people he saw walking about, never the same people each day. It was like a group went in, was seen for a moment, and then were replaced by a new group, the first never to be seen again. He told them that Gillyflower had a daughter, Ada, who was blind, that the woman was old and severe, but there was really nothing much else to say. The only thing that was out of place was the bodies. He kept track of where they appeared in the canal and at what time, calculated the flow of water and current and traced it back to the factory. He'd even been able to identify two of the bodies, from a distance, as being people he had last seen walking about the courtyard of the factory before they disappeared. But no one believed him. They hadn't kept as close an eye on the people that entered the factory as he had, they couldn't prove that the last time they'd been seen alive was IN the factory, they just thought he was a madman.

THAT had made the Doctor smile and say that it was a good thing madmen always believed each other then.

It hadn't done much to assuage Edmund that the Doctor was sane enough to actually handle this 'assignment' given that he'd brought up the chocolate factories before when Sweetville was a match factory.

Still, they were Edmund's best chance to solve this, something the man seemed to realize as he kept quiet about his thoughts on the Doctor's mental state when they were before the coroner, looking down at the bright red body lying on the examination table. It was a man, dressed in white underclothes, his skin nearly neon in its brightness, but it was hard as a rock, just like the candy Clara had described. The poor bloke's face was stretched wide in horror, mouth and eyes open as wide as they could go and just…staring straight out.

"Same as the rest," Edmund sighed, shaking his head, a small handkerchief pressed to his mouth incase whatever it was that had killed the man was contagious, "All dead from causes unknown and their flesh...glowing."

"Like something manky in a coal cellar," the coroner, a rather creepy little man, laughed, "They keep turning up in't canal. The Crimson Horror!"

"Ooh," the Doctor smiled at that, "Good name. Hey, that's good, isn't it?" he looked at the Judge, "The Crimson Horror?"

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek to keep from saying that it wasn't the best she'd ever heard, but for humans it was passable, and just looked at the body, "I'd rather find out exactly what it IS, dear," she countered, "How did they get this way? What could cause something like this?"

"Hmm…" the Doctor hummed, leaning closer to look the body over, frowning when he caught sight of something odd and whipped a magnifying glass out of his pocket, leaning more, closer to the man's eyes, looking through the glass at the nearest eyeball, "Did I ever mention the old Romany superstition, Judy?" he bit back a grin at calling her that, he knew it irritated her to be referenced to a human Judge, but it was the only name he could think of to use and they HAD introduced her to the coroner as Judy Smith.

The Judge frowned, not really comfortable to try and think of one of his many stories about his adventures on Earth with the humans after everything that had happened, but she knew he knew how she felt and he wouldn't be asking if it wasn't important, "Hold on, is that that thing where they thought the eyes of the dead could hold the image of the last thing they saw, like a photograph?"

"Exactly," he stepped back and held out the magnifying glass above the eye. The Judge and Clara frowned at each other but leaned in, looking closer…able to see an old, severe woman that was likely Mrs. Gillyflower, staring right back at them, "It's utter nonsense, of course," the Doctor nodded as the Judge looked at him, stunned, "Unless the chemical composition of the body has been massively corrupted."

"Whatever made the skin red," the Judge murmured, pulling a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiping it along the man's hand, holding it up to reveal there was a red, sticky substance streaked across the white, "It's not skin, it's been coated in something."

"Now," the Doctor reached out to take it from her, "We just have to find out what this something is."

~8~

The Doctor was rather impressed with his wife, once he'd finished his little experiments on the red substance that the Judge had gotten off the body. He'd taken over the coroner's lab, made use of his chemicals to try and work out what the substance was and had been able to do it. He was impressed that the Judge had refrained from making a remark that, with all the bodies that the coroner got that were of the same state, with all the exact chemicals that the Doctor had used, the man could have found out what the red substance was but hadn't thought to do it. Oh he heard her grumble something like that in his mind, that humans were lazy or that the man hadn't realized he could have found out what it was, but the fact that she had kept it inside was a step in the right direction.

She was trying, trying to understand the humans, trying not to insult them, at least out loud, trying to get past her doubts about them. And while it was still bad that she was thinking all that and not saying it, the fact that she was able to not say it out loud for them to hear and to make them feel bad made him hopeful.

"Wow," he hissed as he eyed the substance, a red liquid that floated in a vial, "This is nasty. An organic poison."

"Can you tell what sort of poison?" the Judge asked, frowning at the substance.

"A sort of venom," he nodded, before glancing at Edmund, "And you think it's connected to Sweetville?"

"I do," the man agreed.

"Well, then, we need a plan!" he grinned, looking at the Judge with such a hopeful expression on his face that the woman could only sigh and shrug her acceptance that they were probably going to walk right into danger again.

But...if this poison was truly as nasty as the Doctor thought, and it DID appear to be that nasty, then the humans were likely in a great deal of pain when they were being poisoned and, well, dying, and it DID appear to be rather alien in make if the humans hadn't been able to identify it...she supposed it would be up to them to make sure that no one else died such a horrifying death. Like Edmund had mentioned, he had a brother. What if HE had been able to make it into the factory, what if this man lying there had been Edmund? His brother would be there right now to reclaim the body, someone's brother would have died. For all they knew the man lying there WAS someone's brother, was someone's son or husband or father and just...she HAD to think of him that way, it...took the edge off him being human just a tad.

Clara frowned at that, hesitant, "Are we really going to try and sneak into a factory that seems to be making poison, poison that they can use against us and, I don't know, kill us if they find out?"

But the look the Doctor gave her, that 'idiotic' smile, was all the answer she needed.

"Of course we are," she sighed.

She was starting to think it wasn't the Humans that were 'stupid,' like the Judge seemed to think they were. Maybe, just maybe it was the Time Lords.

…or at least the Doctor.

Even the Judge seemed exasperated at the Doctor's enthusiasm for this mystery.

~8~

The Judge's smile was strained as she stood with her arm in the Doctor's, before Mrs. Gillyflower just the next day. They'd had to sit through a ridiculous sermon where the woman went on and on about how the end of the world was coming, how the fires of heaven were going to rain down on humanity, how there was corruption everywhere. They had almost, ALMOST, thought to just leave and knock it off to the ramblings of a mad woman…till she'd revealed her blind daughter, Ada to them. The sight of the girl had been what made them stay. The girl was pale, her eyes a milky blue, but with angry pink scars all around her eyes that were NOT made in a drunken rage as the woman claimed had set her husband to harm their daughter. It was Ada, it was seeing a girl, a little girl, someone's daughter, harmed so badly in such a way that had made them want to keep to their task.

What sickened the Judge, what made her smile so strained, was the way that Gillyflower had spoken of Ada and the blinding, it didn't fit, it didn't fit with how a mother would sound if she was genuinely horrified by something happening to their daughter. SHE knew what that sounded like, her children had been harmed, whether in bullying or a small animal scratching them, or being teased and pranked, just as all children were, but it always made the mother horrified to learn of it. Gillyflower didn't sound like that at all, and it made both her and the Doctor suspicious that the woman was the cause of Ada's blindness, not her husband.

"Doctor and Mrs. Smith," Gillyflower stood before the three of them, her eyes roving over the Judge and Doctor as they stood there, beside each other, smiles on their faces, "And your niece," she smiled at Clara, though there was a hesitation in her eyes, a curiosity of how a woman that appeared to be the same age as them could be their niece, but likely waved it off to one of those odd chance orders for birth, where a mother was very young when they had one child and rather a bit older when they had their second, old enough where their firstborn might have had their own child as well.

The Judge's smile tightened more, the Doctor squeezing her arm in reassurance at that, at how the woman had called Clara their niece. It wasn't…fitting, not entirely. In human terms, that was probably how Clara might fit in with them, had Ollie been a Time Lady. The Judge had admitted that she spent so many years with Ollie's daughter in the back of her mind, making sure she was looked after and protected and ok. All that time was bound to leave a soft spot for the woman's daughter. She did NOT consider Clara to be her daughter or the Doctor's daughter, not at all, not EVER, they had a daughter and it was NOT Clara nor would she ever allow Clara to hold that title.

She wasn't even entirely comfortable with the 'niece' remark either, because Clara wasn't her niece, wasn't her family or her blood or the Doctor's. She wasn't family, plain and simple. But…in her mind, Clara was still Ollie's daughter and even though she'd only known Ollie all of a few hours, the impression was lasting. To the Doctor, Clara was his companion. To HER, Clara was more…

Her ward.

Yes, that was it, her ward, her charge, entrusted to her to care for and protect but not family.

THAT was the right word, in her mind at least. Clara could never be true family, not to her, not after having lost her children and family to the war and Gallifrey, she couldn't…she just couldn't bring herself to accept someone like that. Jenny was one exception, she was part-Time Lord, she was literally the Doctor's DNA, his daughter. Which made it easier to accept Jenny, to look at her as though she were her daughter as well, a different daughter. Clara couldn't be that, not now, perhaps not ever, she just…wasn't ready to accept someone that wasn't true family into the family. She doubted she ever would be.

But Clara was someone that she felt the need to protect and care for, she was someone that she felt responsible for, someone that was in their safekeeping on adventures. And she knew the Doctor did as well. So it made sense to her, it fit, Clara was like their ward.

"Oh, yes," Gillyflower examined them, stepping closer, "You'll do very nicely."

"Oh, grand," the Doctor smiled, moving his arm from linked through the Judge's arm to around her waist, tugging her closer, putting on a rather bad North Accent, "Smashing. Eh, the missus and I couldn't be more chuffed, could we, love?" he looked at the Judge.

"No," she attempted an accent of her own, honestly not sure what sort of accent it sounded like, for all she knew it sounded Russian.

"A lovely married couple," Gillyflower clapped, "Tell me, when did you wed?"

"Ages ago," the Judge answered promptly…at the same time that the Doctor had to say, "Not long."

They looked at each other a moment, a silent battle of wills going on for which answer they'd give. They knew why each of them had said what they had. For the Judge, they had been married ages ago, she held onto everything from the moment they were wed to not, but the Doctor, he knew that their marriage was trying to be fixed, he considered it to be more recent that they were becoming man and wife _again_ and taking this as a second chance to start fresh.

"Um," the Doctor cleared his throat and looked back at Gillyflower, "Not long," he repeated, "But we've known each other for so long it feels like we've always been married."

The woman nodded, "That's the best sort of marriage to have," she told them, "Having the comfort of companionship, but the newness of amorous love," she sighed, her gaze growing distant as though she were thinking of something romantic, "Oh, and every kiss feels like the first…"

She looked at them then, with an expression that made them both stiffen as they saw the silent command in her gaze, the silent expectation…that they should kiss now. It was odd and uncomfortable, not…not the actual idea of kissing but more that she was staring at them so expectantly like she wasn't going to move till they did. THAT was the uncomfortable part.

Well, to be honest, it was also the idea of the kiss as well.

Because the way Gillyflower was looking at them, she was expecting them to act like 'newlyweds' would and make the kiss something special instead of an awkward peck. That was what newlyweds would be thought to act like, after all, that they'd be so in love, so in the honeymoon stage, that they wouldn't care who saw them kiss or how they kissed, that they wouldn't need an excuse not to kiss.

And their entire cover was based on them being recently married, being happily in love. Because Sweetville was meant to be the 'perfect place,' a little Utopia, and only the most perfect would be allowed in. If they displayed any sort of hesitation, any sort of rocky road in their marriage, Gillyflower might not accept them into the fold. And they couldn't risk that.

The Doctor gave the strained smile this time, turning to look at the Judge a moment before swooping in and pressing his lips to hers and keeping them there longer than just a peck. A bit longer than that. A…fair bit longer. Ok, quite a good deal longer than a peck, nor was the kiss itself a mere peck either.

Clara's eyes widened slightly as she saw a change overcome the Time Lords. She'd seen them give a pecking kiss here and there, mostly the Doctor to the Judge, and this had appeared to start that way. It truly had looked like he would just press his lips to hers and hold it there for longer before stepping back. But instead…he was stepping forward. She could see the tension on both their faces start to fade away with it. The Doctor took a single step closer, his hand that had been behind the Judge's back moving towards her hip, his other hand slowly drifting up her arm to the woman's cheek and resting there. She could see the Judge's hands move towards the Doctor's chest and for one brief moment she thought the woman was going to push him away till she saw her hands gently curl into a fist, as though gripping the Doctor's shirt a little more, holding him closer, one hand moving up more to his neck, to the back of his head.

And then, just like that, the small peck morphed into an actual and true kiss, their mouths moving against each others, their eyes closed, their faces soft, their hands gentle, their bodies moving closer still.

Clara's expression slowly turned from shock to a small smile as she looked away, feeling like she was intruding on an important, personal moment between the two aliens. She was…happy for them. It wouldn't take a blind person to see that the two had tension between them, had a marriage that needed work and mending, so to see them actually reaching this personal level, this moment of closeness and acceptance and trust that they could kiss like that (a kiss that she couldn't help but glimpse at here and there, that made her cheeks flush slightly), it meant that something was changing. They were bonding and mending on all sorts of levels, emotional, intellectual, but this was the first time she was seeing them actually appearing to be mending on a more personal and physical level. And that was wonderful…and, maybe, if the Judge was in a better 'mood' she'd ease up a little bit more.

Clara, however, noticed that, while she respected the beautiful moment that was happening and had looked away, Gillyflower was just smiling and watching them, and that felt very wrong to her, that something like this, that she was sure had just started as trying to appease Gillyflower, but had grown infinitely more meaningful, was being observed in such a way but what was likely the enemy. She lifted her fist to her mouth, about to cough or clear her throat, to do something that would signal to the two Time Lords to pull apart…when Gillyflower clapped, the noise making the two pull away and stare at each other, their expressions, that had softened mid-kiss, now growing flushed, slightly embarrassed, and shocked.

"Just like the first," the Doctor breathed, his face softening once more to a light smile.

It was true, their first kiss, during their wedding, it had been…a shocking experience for them both. They had leaned in to kiss, meaning for it to just be a peck, and just…something had sparked between them, something they hadn't understood at the time. If it hadn't been for his brother, his best man of sorts, clearing his throat they probably would have kept kissing like that. It had actually be one reason their marriage started off so strained despite the attraction that their kiss had represented. They hadn't wanted it to happen, they hadn't wanted to feel anything like that for the other person. It would have been easy for it to just be a marriage of convenience, it got complicated when feelings were introduced. They hadn't wanted to be compatible with each other, had fought against it so much that they argued or went silent, both wanting to ignore that first kiss. But slowly it had just all broken down.

In a way…this kiss represented the same thing, but the complete opposite. For so long they had both been trying to work towards something, towards saving their marriage, towards breaking down and repairing the things that had grown in their way or been shattered by events. Maybe, just maybe, this kiss could be like a good omen. It was still there, the sizzle and spark between them, maybe now, instead of things going silent and breaking down around them, it would mean that all that had been taken care of, that they were going to be ok, that they were getting closer to being ok once more.

The Judge let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, "Bit better actually," she had to admit, feeling herself starting to smile at how he started to beam at that.

It was…odd, to think of this kiss, to think of this moment, compared to how they had been at the start, after the war. They'd been so distant, so unsure of what to do around each other, more so her than the Doctor, hadn't known how to act around him, hadn't thought it was possible to reestablish the closeness they'd once had…and now here she was, here THEY were, kissing and actually getting lost in the moment, a closeness between them that hadn't been there during the Asylum.

She knew there was still some things to work on between them, but so much of it had been aired out, so much of it was working towards a good end. That kiss, it…it gave her hope too.

"Just lovely," Gillyflower sighed, reminding them that they were actually, indeed, before an audience, making their flushing cheeks darken

The Judge cleared her throat, "About the…um…living quarters…"

"Ooh yes," Gillyflower nodded, "Come, come, this way," she walked past them, a small grin on her face as though she knew exactly why the lovely young couple was asking about their 'living' quarters, when she was sure they meant 'sleeping quarters.'

Though that was actually the last thing on the Judge's mind, it was just the first thing that popped into it to get them out of the office and get Gillyflower to stop staring at them like she was.

Clara gave the two Time Lords a smug little smile as she turned to follow Gillyflower out of the room, the woman rattling off some information about the factory itself as they went.

The Doctor swallowed hesitantly and looked at the Judge, offering his arm to her in a tentative motion, not sure what the kiss meant, not sure what it meant for them or where it put them. The Judge looked up into his eyes, seeing his hesitant but hopeful look in them, and down to his arm, a small smile making its way onto her face when, instead of taking his arm, she took his hand, lancing their fingers together, making him beam and let out a gentle, but pleased, laugh.

He lifted her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the back of it, before they too followed Gillyflower out. It was a small thing, in the scheme of things, a very small action. But it was a step, and a step forward instead of back, and meant the world to both of them.

~8~

"Sweetville will provide you with everything you need," Gillyflower was going on, having hardly stopped for breath as she gave them a tour of the facility, now moving on to the courtyard area that housed the little homes each of her 'workers' were given for their time there, "You won't have to worry about a thing...ever again."

"I have a question," Clara began, trying her own North Accent, "The name. Sweetville."

"Yes?" Gillyflower paused to look at the woman who was walking ahead of the two Time Lords, her gaze unable to stay away from how they were lightly swinging their joined hands between themselves as they walked.

"Why not name it after yourself? After all, it's your creation."

"Ooh, yes," the Doctor nodded, though the Judge thought it was a bit silly to ask, what would a name really mean in the grand plan of it all, "Gillyflowertown, eh? Gillyflowerland! You could have rollercoasters."

"It is named in tribute to my partner," Gillyflower responded.

"You remarried?" the Judge wondered, now very sure that her North accent was an abysmal version of a Russian accent. If her name was Mrs. Gillyflower but her partner was Mr. Sweet or some variation of that, had she found another husband?

The thought was odd to her, not quite so in the scope of humans, they divorced and remarried all the time. Look at Henry VIII, but on Gallifrey there usually wasn't much divorce or remarrying, mostly because when one died…they just regenerated. It became a bit like a new marriage, what with new personalities involved, but they tended to last for ages and if, in the end, one party did die permanently, usually the remaining spouse didn't really want to remarry, having been in one relationship for centuries, others just didn't seem to cut it.

"No," Gillyflower smiled, "I meant my...silent partner. Mr. Sweet likes to keep himself to himself. Shall we move on?" she gestured at a door.

"Who lives here?" the Doctor wondered, not sure if this was meant to be the house they were meant to share or not.

"Oh, names don't matter here," she waved it off, "All you need to know is that we only recruit the brightest and the best," she reached out to pat Clara on the cheek before turning to open the doors, allowing them to peek inside.

The trio leaned in slightly, their expressions fading quickly at what they saw within. There was a man and woman already in there, unmoving, fixed and motionless inside a large bell jar. The man was standing while his wife sat, both looking as though they were taking tea, a bellow hooked up to the jar to breathe air into it. But the couple were blank-faced, their eyes expressionless, both more like dolls than actual humans in how little they reacted or moved.

The Doctor squeezed the Judge's hand, backing away from it, his other hand reaching out to tug Clara back as well when women entered the room from two doors. They turned, wanting to run, but a group of men was approaching them as well, about to surround them as Gillyflower smiled menacingly on.

'_Carah…_' the Doctor breathed inside her head, and she looked down, feeling something cold press into her hand only to spot the sonic there, '_Run!_'

He didn't even give her a chance to protest as he literally shoved her to the side with his body, but pushing past her to throw himself at the men just to the side, giving her enough space to stumble past, off kilter from the shove.

"GO!" the Doctor shouted.

She could only catch a single glimpse of his desperate face, his eyes begging her to go, to get out of there, the women having grabbed Clara, the men staggering to grab him as well, but with HER past the ring of them.

"NOW!" he ordered.

She swallowed hard, gripped the sonic tightly, realizing she'd be no use to him if she did get caught, and ran.

~8~

The Judge half-flew into the TARDIS, the door slamming shut behind her as she bolted for the console. She'd run into Edmund just outside the factory, told him that their cover had been blown and she had to get away to get reinforcements. She begged for a distraction, a diversion so she could get 'reinforcements' as she'd called it. It served two purposes, asking Edmund to do that. The man was so curious, if he didn't hear from them he likely would have gone INTO the factory himself to try and find out what happened. And then he'd likely get caught and die, for someone in there would have recognized him as the ranting madman by the canal. He hadn't exactly been quiet about his suspicions of the place. She knew that the diversion he would likely cause would probably end with him being arrested, and that was good, a few days in jail just to keep him away from the factory so she could work without him getting involved would be a relief as well.

"Come on," she muttered, swinging the monitor around and putting in a command. The TARDIS, once connected to the pilot, could look out and spy where he or she was as long as she was on the same planet and timezone as the pilot, "Come on…yes!' she let out a breath…only for it to be sucked in a moment later as she saw exactly what was happening to the Doctor.

He was in the factory, that much she could tell, but he'd been stripped down to his white underclothes, much like the man in the canal had been. What's more he appeared to be hanging, unconscious, from a rack with five other men, all of them dangling under their armpits as they were picked up and move towards a large vat of something.

She frowned, leaning forward, squinting at the image as the Doctor was dipped in, conscious just before he was submerged, and lifted out again. All the men were covered in a layer of the red substance they'd found on the canal-man's body. But, while it appeared to be dripping off of the other men, clearing up, drying in an undiscernable coat by the time they were placed on the ground once more, the Doctor fell down, struggling to move, his eyes wide and mouth frozen open, the poison hardening into the same bright red coating that had afflicted the dead man, stiffening his movements. She couldn't hear what was being said, but she could see the pain in him as he struggled and struggled, but was left lying there at the end of a row of people.

Gillyflower walked among them, men on one side, women (she could see Clara in the middle) on the other, examining them. Her daughter was there as well, waiting off to the side till Gillyflower spun around and gestured at the Doctor before storming off.

"Don't do it," she mumbled to herself, watching Ada approach the Doctor intently, "Don't do it Ada…" she bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes on Ada as she knelt by the Doctor who had grabbed her hand. If the woman threw the Doctor into the canal, she would get the TARDIS there and get him before he drowned. But she was hoping it wouldn't come to that, that he wouldn't be disposed of at all, because he was clearly still alive. None of the bodies, from the reports she'd seen in the coroner's office, had described the bodies as dying via drowning, there was no water in their lungs, they had died before being cast into the canal.

If the Doctor was still alive, hopefully Ada would take pity on him…

She nearly sagged with relief when the girl did, the girl holding the Doctor's hand right back and glancing in the direction her mother had disappeared towards as though waiting for her to be gone entirely.

She flicked the monitor off and stepped back, running her hands along her skirt as her mind raced, trying to think of what to do. She'd need help, that much she knew. With all the people there, with the poison, with Clara having been separated from the Doctor, it was too much for just one person to do. She needed someone to help get her in there, but who? Vastra, Strax, and Jenny might be lurking about somewhere, but did she really want to get Strax involved? Strax and Jenny, a Sontaran and a Human…Vastra wouldn't go without them, they wouldn't let Vastra go without them either…that was out of the question. She refused to ask a human, this was far too dangerous and delicate a mission to bring one of them in. She didn't know exactly where Jenny was and now that she was a part of events she couldn't risk waiting to find out where the girl was, she could put out a call to her but it would take time to get a response back. Really there were only humans around but even then the only ones worth possibly calling would be the companions and she was loath to do that. Even if she could, who? Martha Jones had retired, she was married, starting a family, Donna couldn't remember the Doctor, Amy was dead, Rose was in a parallel world, Sarah Jane had a family of her own, as did Jo Grant, Clara was frozen…

Her eyes widened, "Of course," she nearly felt like a human that she completely missed what should have been the most obvious thing ever.

She hurried around the console, frantically throwing the knobs and switches that she needed to get to where she had to go. She quickly typed in the location and moved to pull a lever when it stuck and refused to move.

"Oi!" she called up, half-glaring up at the rotor, knowing that the TARDIS was the thing keeping her from pulling that lever, one she'd pulled ample times before to send them off into space and time. The TARDIS gave a rather angry groaning noise in response, if she had any doubts it was the TARDIS's doing before they were gone. She crossed her arms, "What is the matter with you?"

There was another angry groan, one that sounded, vaguely, to her like a harrumph.

"If this is about me being cross with you," she continued, pointing at the rotor, "Then I'm warning you now, don't you dare expect an apology from me," there was a grinding noise, "Oh no," she shook her head, her face pinching in annoyance, "I don't owe you one, at all, if anything, YOU owe ME the apology."

A small hiss of air went off beside her through the vents, like a scoff.

The Judge shook her head again, slower this time, "YOU took my husband away from me," she reminded the box, more quietly than how she'd just spoken, "The Doctor told me, about when you were human, how YOU wanted to see the universe so YOU 'stole a Time Lord and ran away.' But you don't realize you stole a Time Lord that wasn't yours to steal. He was a husband, a father, a doctor...he was NEEDED on Gallifrey and you just...opened your doors to him. You could have refused to let him in, you could have locked your doors, but you chose HIM. And because of that, because you wanted off the planet, you took my husband away, you stole him away," she frowned at the rotor, the box going eerily quiet, "He told me too, how you claim you always took him 'where he needed to go,'" she let out a pained scoff, "Yet you never stopped to think that he was needed most of all with his family? That WE needed him more than others did? Because we DID. Right to the very end, we needed him. I needed my husband, our children needed their father," she looked up at the rotor, swallowing hard, "They're dead," her voice broke, "My children, OUR children, are dead, and they didn't even get to see their father when the War started. We needed him, when word of it first broke out, our children were terrified, they needed their father for encouragement, for reassurance, just to…BE there for us, for his family…and you didn't think that was enough?" she let out a breath, "I do hate you, sometimes, because you didn't think he needed to stay with us on Gallifrey. You could have stopped working, you could have made him stay on the planet by refusing to leave, but you didn't. So don't expect me to apologize for not liking the fact that you, not once, decided that he was needed at home."

She fell just as quiet as the box was, "The only thing I can offer," she added a moment later, "Is to say that…sometimes, I appreciate that you were there for him and kept him safe. But that's all I can bring myself to say. Thank you for keeping him as safe as you could, but I can't thank you for everything else."

There was a long moment before the box let out a far softer groan, the sound of the rotor louder, the noise more like an apologetic murmur than anything.

The Judge nodded at that, "I'm glad we understand each other."

That was all she had wanted out of the box, for it to realize that it had hurt her as well. Yes, the box and the Doctor had a lot of fun, adventures, the box kept him safe…but the box also stole him away, never thought to NOT allow him off the planet, never felt that he was needed at home when he so sorely was. And THAT hurt her, the box took him where he needed to go? Oh it took him home when he lost a companion and needed comfort, but it was always temporary, always waiting there to whisk him off again. It never once thought that he needed to stay on Gallifrey with his family. The box had been a bit selfish, just like the Doctor had, and SHE had paid the price for that. She just wanted the box to admit that she was justified in her anger towards it all, that the TARDIS was partially to blame.

She truly couldn't thank the box for the adventures that tore the family apart, but she could thank it for keeping her husband safe, but that was all she could bring herself to do right now. Because she still didn't understand the appeal of the adventures, not yet, perhaps not ever, but she was trying.

"Now," she cleared her throat, "You kept my husband safe before, rescued him, WE need to rescue him now and…" she sighed, "He wouldn't want YOU in danger of being seized so I need help from someone else," she listened as the box made a small wheezing noise, like it was trying to counter that statement, that the Doctor would care more about the box than her, "I can handle myself," she took a breath, "I can move and think and fight, all you can do is keep your doors shut. I can actually do something inside the factory to help him, to get him out. But…I need YOUR help to do it," she looked at the rotor, "So…will you help me save the Doctor?"

A moment later the lever lowered on its own, sending them off.

~8~

"Alright!" a voice shouted through the wooden door of a small house as the Judge stood outside it, pounding on it, not even knocking anymore, just pounding against it, "Alright!" the door flew open, nearly making her stumble back as the person gave her an unamused look that quickly morphed into a small smirk, "Well hello."

"Don't bother," she said quickly.

"Spunk. I like that. And who might you be?"

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek, knowing she would regret this, "Judy," she took a breath, straightening herself, "And I need your help."

Eyes narrowed slightly at how purposeful her words were, glancing past her to look around behind her, as though expecting some sort of trap…however the only thing in sight was a bright blue police telephone box, "…Doctor?"

The Judge smirked at the question, it was reasonable given that their people could regenerate, "Not quite."

The eyes returned to her, narrowing more in suspicion, "Do I know YOU?"

"In the future," she nodded, knowing this was likely the only person in this time period that she could be so blunt about that, that she could say this to without sounding completely mad.

The fact that the only response was an, 'Oh yeah? Prove it,' and not a door slamming in her face proved that even more.

"I don't have time…"

"_Make_ time."

"You have a brother," she stated, starting to speak quickly, "You've been looking for him since you were separated as children and…"

"Stop," was the instant command, "I don't tell anyone about him."

"You told _me_," she stated, growing serious, "We're _friends_ in the future, and I need your help now. The Doctor's in danger."

"And why should I help him?" arms crossed was never a good sign of agreement, "He abandoned me."

The Judge took a deep breath, "Because this is 1893."

"And?"

"And you didn't start working for Torchwood till 1899..."

"Torch-what?"

But the Judge continued, pulling a small ID out of her pocket and holding it up for him to see the Torchwood insignia and proof of being from the future, "Which means, right now, I outrank you Captain Jack Harkness."

A/N: Surprise! Jack! But a Pre-Judge Jack ;) I know that I gave us Jack in TLC, but I wanted to try and spin it a new way, make it a pre-Judge Jack, before she joins him in Torchwood, before he manages to find the Doctor again, before HE even ends up in Torchwood :) I wanted to see a bit of what it would be like with Jack there instead of Vastra and the others. I'm SO sorry that we will be lacking in Vastra/Jenny/Strax, I DO love them very much, but I couldn't see THEM being the first person the Judge would turn to for help if she escaped, but Jack instead and thought it would be an interesting twist :)

Hope you're all ok with that ;)

I'm also sorry this wasn't up on Wednesday :( Our beagle hasn't been doing well the last few weeks. Recently he's been unable to keep things down, is lethargic, with no appetite and trouble breathing at times, and Wednesday I was the only one with time after work to take him to the vet before they closed. I tried to get the chapter up but by the time I actually made it back to my room after making sure he was ok for the night it was past midnight. The vet had to do a few tests and x-rays and then suggested we get our dog to a specialist yesterday for tests that we're waiting on :( He's only 9 years old but he almost like a ball of fur with little legs he's so chubby (I blame my dad who can't say no to giving him some extra food here and there) and, according to the two, he shows signs of tumors so we're worried about him :(

Some notes on reviews...

Lol, I call her Judgey too :) ...and then it gets weird because that somehow morphs into baby-talk and I start thinking of her as my 'little Judgey-wudgey' :)

I can say that I am planning an AU where the Judge stays with him and Rose instead of Torchwood. I think it'll be a bit harder for her to move on seeing so many companions changing and joining and all that trouble lol :) I can admit, I'm very curious what she'd think/act like during the Master's reappearance. Hmm... I do think she'd like Rory and Mickey though :) They both were 'abandoned' by the girls they loved at some point or another. The TARDIS was one thing I wanted to hit on here, with her reminding the box that she has no right to be angry that the Judge is mad at her because she had a hand in her issues with the Doctor too. But the Judge, I think, might eventually come to try and even it out, her dislike of how the box took him away with her thanks that the box DID keep him safe :) It'll be a long road before the Judge starts to see humans in a good light like the Doctor does. I imagine she might start to see it...and then we get 12 and he seems to agree with her thoughts on humans lol :) And no worries, I love every length review ;)

Aww thanks! (if you tripped, I'd try to catch you before you landed in something undesirable ;))

I'm glad you feel a little more for the Judge :) I'm very excited for when she and 12 start their adventures, given how HE feels about humans too lol :) She'll definitely ease up before 12 though ;)

I wish you luck in your pursuit to be an actor :) I think the TARDIS probably 'randomly' decided to go to Gallifrey at times, like the box thought that he was 'needed' on Gallifrey during those times (though probably not quite the 'need' that the Judge would hope for lol) :) For this story, I think the two trials would be moments where the Time Lords kept the Judge and her family away from him. Being a Judge and knowing how the law works, they wouldn't want her to influence the other judges or jury or other law-officials with her position in the legal system too :( I feel like they'd try to keep her away to keep it as 'unbiased' as it could be :( Working for them could be seen as him trying to gain back a bit of respect for his family, but it would still upset the Judge that he would be willing to work with their people but still not work with the family and stay with them :( The darker 7th, I could see him being the one that visited the family less, like the more time away from the family the more 'irritable' he became for not seeing his children as much :(

I can say that TAOSAT will be up in a few hours, then UNIT tomorrow. Recollections on the 15th, IYC on the 20th, AAO on the 25th, and Dragon's Fire on the 30th ;)


	24. The Crimson Horror - Part 2

A/N: **PLAGIARISM! :'(**

I'm a more than a little down at the moment :'( It was brought to my attention today that yet another person had plagiarized me. This time on wattpad. The user 'ourlonelygods' and their story 'My Doctor [A Doctor Who Fanfiction]' has taken parts of the Professor's story, namely Revitalization, and replaced the Professor with their OC Emma (and even then they left 'the Professor' in twice) :( They did this, literal copy/paste/replace, from the Pandorica Opens to the end of Big Bang. They removed Big Bang from their story (I have screencapped proof already up on tumblr of that though), but the Pandorica and plagiarism is still up :( I was also warned that parts of Vincent and the Lodger bore a resemblance to Evy's story as well though not quite copy/paste (however there ARE original lines in each that I have been able to match to the Professor's chapters as well).

It began originally, though their OC was captured and abused by 'a master' which made me suspicious after the fact that it might have been a allusion to the Professor being captured and abused by The Master on the Valiant :( But it slowly became more and more MY work. There were lines about 'that only happened once,' speaking Doctor, finishing each other's sentences, the waltz, being the most feared warrior in the universe, it being 1,894 years not 2,000, blasters, sweetums, sergeants, being chained to the wall outside the Pandorica, the arctic tundra in 500,600, and just...so much more :'(

The author themself admits to the plagiarism right on their profile, claims they will 'fix it' and that they are 'sorry' but were lazy when it came to writing. And that hurts, because I now know from experience what happens when they 'fix it' (they just plagiarise again because no consequence came of it) and I truly cannot feel that they are 100% 'sorry' if they were willing to hurt me, knowingly, like that in the first place :(

If anyone has a wattpad account, please help me with this story/author. I have already reported it to the site, it is up to the administrators. I'm not sure if there's a way for other users to report it :(

I also apologize, it's just...I found out about it a little past midnight, then I was up till literally 3am gathering evidence, contacting their reviewers so they would know the truth, and filling out a report for the site. I got maybe 1 or 2 hours of sleep I was so agitated, because I found out the DAY I was going to post the Doctors Crossover :( I had this story edited, but with the lack of sleep I missed my alarm and ran out of the house to work, so I'm currently posting this on my lunch break. I was going to spend the time I had before work and after to edit the last parts of the Crossover, but right now I'm just really upset and the thought of Proffy appearing after this is just makes me want to protect her because she was my baby and someone stole her story :'( I'll try to get it up today, but this is just...

It's the 14th time I've been plagiarized. And every time I feel like maybe, just maybe, it's over...it happens again :( It's never going to end is it? It won't stop unless I stop writing, and I don't want that to happen :'(

~8~

The Crimson Horror - Part 2

_"_So let me get this right," Jack began as he leaned against one of the side controls of the TARDIS, his arms crossed, watching the Judge as she walked around the controls, a small, suspicious look on his face, not suspicious of her, but more like he was trying to work out something about her without bringing it up, "Sometime in the next couple of years, I start working for some Torchwood company, and it's still there in the 2000s?"

The Judge glanced over at him, "You end up heading it," she remarked, "Now if you could?" she nodded at some of the controls, knowing that Jack had at least a basic idea of how to fly the TARDIS.

Jack had told her all about his adventures with the Doctor, how he'd been left on the Game Station and tried to hop back to 21st century earth…only to end up in the mid-19th century. He had been around a bit, hopping between England and America here and there. She'd been lucky to know that he'd been around during that time. Even if he didn't know everything that had happened with him and the Doctor, with the Master, and with her, and Torchwood, she knew he would still help. He had admitted to her that he'd hit a rather…bleak point in his life over the centuries, once it really sunk in that he was immortal. Had admitted that he had actually tried to take his life a few times, wanting to see if there was any specific thing he could do to permanently end his life, it never worked. Luckily he hadn't reached that point yet.

It appeared she'd gotten to him just before that grimness set in, before he'd stopped caring about much of anything, before Torchwood and his team had been able to heal him of that. He was still willing to help.

"Oh no," he shook his head, pushing off the controls to walk closer to the main console, "Not till you tell me exactly what's going on."

The Judge sighed, considering her words, knowing she couldn't say everything, she couldn't reveal too much, even just mentioning Torchwood was a danger. She could hope that it would be what spurred him into accepting a job with them, to know that it would become such a part of his life in the future, but for all she knew he'd want nothing to do with them, not want to create the future, and refuse.

"The Doctor and I were with Clara…"

"Clara?" Jack frowned.

She blinked, nearly smacking herself for not remembering that this Jack hadn't met Clara yet, hadn't been keeping an eye out for her, "His companion."

Jack's eyes widened only a fraction at that, "And you? You're not his companion?"

"No."

"Who are you then?" he crossed his arms again, as though not sure if she was some sort of enemy.

"I'm…" she bit the inside of her cheek, not sure what to say, not wanting to give away too much.

She could remember Jack's reaction to when she'd introduced herself to him in the future. He had been completely and utterly shocked that the Doctor had a wife. Now though, as she thought back on his precise reaction and expression…there was something…odd about it. It was almost like he wasn't sure what would happen, like he knew something that he was hesitant to say. And whenever the Doctor appeared or spoke of another woman, whenever he got another companion, he always got very keen to know what they looked like. It was like he expected one of them to be…

She closed her eyes a moment, something hitting her.

"I'm his wife."

Jack seemed mildly shocked at that. He'd had some doubts about the woman, having never heard of Torchwood before, would have likely thought she was crazy had it not been for seeing the TARDIS, for seeing her handling the controls like she knew what to do further emphasizing that she was well acquainted with the box and likely time travel. But still, he had to grin, "So the old boy settles down in the future?"

THERE it was.

The Jack in the future, when she introduced herself as the Judge, when she'd said she was the Doctor's wife from Gallifrey, he had completely thought that the Doctor would marry someone else in the future. His reaction made sense now, his focus on what the companions looked like, it all made sense. He knew what SHE looked like, he assumed she was a companion-turned-wife, like River Song had likely once hoped to be. Her Jack, in the future, he had no idea that SHE was the Doctor's wife, his same wife, just in a new incarnation.

It DID explain why he had looked at her, after she'd regenerated last, and just started laughing for a good half hour straight. He'd realized SHE had been his wife all along, that there was no point in worrying for her and the Doctor, for what the Doctor would do with another companion, that he'd marry someone else.

And it made even more sense why Jack was more…willing to let her leave Torchwood and go with the Doctor. Whenever they'd discuss it, and they did discuss it frequently, whenever the Doctor appeared after a tragedy, she always felt guilty for not going with him, for not being there when it happened but only to deal with the aftermath. Jack would always convince her that she was fine in Torchwood, that the Doctor would be fine, that she didn't HAVE to go be with him just to make the man happy, that SHE deserved to be happy. He always seemed so keen to keep her at Torchwood, maybe this was why. Maybe he'd always thought that the Doctor would 'remarry' one of his companions and the future-him just wanted to keep her away from having to experience that.

When she'd regenerated into THIS body, he'd changed his opinion. The last time they'd discussed her going with the Doctor, the first time in this body, he'd agreed she should go and give it a chance to heal. He'd used the excuse that Torchwood had broken down and was repairing itself, that she should do the same with what was already broken between her and the Doctor, work on their marriage. It had shocked her how suddenly he'd been ok with her leaving. Now she understood, he'd realized that THIS was the body where they actually did work things out, THIS was the body where she travelled with the Doctor.

Maybe…maybe Jack saw something now that gave him hope that things would work out between them.

"Something like that," she murmured, feeling like too many revelations were hitting her one after the other.

She was going to have to have a lengthy discussion with her Jack when this was all over.

Jack let out a breath, looking at her intently, "What danger is he in?"

She glanced up at him, feeling a small smile appear on her face at that, at how he seemed a little more willing to help now. She got the feeling it was because of her, because now Jack was seeing not just the Doctor needing help, but someone's husband. No matter how he felt about the Doctor, if he was angry that the man had left him on the Game Station, the man was married, he had a wife who wanted to save him…and the Jack she knew could never leave someone who needed help.

"We were investigating a match factory, Sweetville," she began, "The owner, Mrs. Gillyflower, is collecting humans, dipping them in a diluted poison of some sort, it seems like it's…a preservative," she remarked, thinking about how the skin had hardened, how the other humans hadn't moved after they'd been taken out of the vats.

"A preservative?" he shook his head, "Preserve them against what?"

"What's always the next disaster to hit Earth?" she replied, "The apocalypse," she sighed, "But sometimes it goes wrong and it acts just like it originally is, a poison. It hardens the skin in a red substance, causes excruciating pain, immobility, and eventually death. For humans at least."

"I take it cos the Doc's a Time Lord it's not quite killing him, is it?" Jack ventured.

"No," she shook her head, "The TARDIS was able to home in on him," she gestured to the monitor, "He survived the process, but Mrs. Gillyflower's daughter, Ada, she's not 'disposed' of him like she was meant to."

"You think she's keeping him prisoner, hiding him?"

"I do."

Jack let out a breath, "So…" he grinned, "What's the plan?"

The Judge smiled at that, see…THIS was an example of a brilliant human, asked the right questions, hesitant to just trust without information, making logical assumptions, wanting a plan first instead of just jumping into it.

But, then again, it might just be because Jack was one of the few humans she had spent years around, one of the few humans that had proven himself to her over and over again. This might be an early version of him, but he was still Jack.

And that was exactly what she needed for this mission.

~8~

Making a plan with Jack, drawing up 'the old battle strategy' with the ex-Time Agent, was bittersweet, it reminded the Judge so much of Torchwood, how she and Jack would sometimes argue over the best means of attack, him citing his time in various wars, her countering with the fact that none of them could compare to the Time War. But it was also a reminder that this hadn't happened yet, not for Jack at least. He was really going into this on blind faith in her, in trust that she wasn't lying, in the hope that he'd get to confront the Doctor, sadly he wouldn't realize that it wasn't HIS Doctor till it was likely too late. It really would be impossible, though, for Jack to confront the 9th Doctor about what he'd done on the Game Station, the man had regenerated so soon after leaving that, really, the closest Doctor would be his 10th self. She knew that he would eventually confront the Doctor about it all. He'd held off, in the future, when he'd rescued Rose, caught up in the joy of saving the girl and the tension of her regenerating, he'd let it slide for that moment, confronting the Doctor about it all. She knew he'd face off with the man again at the end of the Universe, actually bring up that the Doctor left him there…though it would be brushed aside easily.

This Jack, this Jack had no idea Rose had even been on the Game Station, what had happened to him to make him keep living. He clearly thought she was a regular old human, and she wasn't going to say anything against it, if she could help it. She truly didn't know what Jack knew about her in the future, he kept quiet about it, likely to preserve the timelines (another reason why Jack was one of the tolerable humans, he was careful like that). She didn't want to risk jeopardizing things between them in the future by letting on too much. He wouldn't ask her what happened if he thought she was just a simple human that didn't understand why he was alive over and over again. She'd have to try and keep him from bringing it up around the Doctor as well, from what Martha had told her, that was a bit of a bonding moment for the two men when dealing with something called Stet radiation.

Still, the plan was all drawn up, rather quickly between the two of them. They both understood the need for subtlety at times, the need to be prepared, especially when the odds were against them. They had an entire factory they had to sneak into, a Doctor in a bad state, a woman willing to kill to keep her secrets, and likely only one go at all of this. They needed to make it count.

Luckily, the TARDIS had calmed down from its tantrum earlier and was onboard as well, setting them down, on silent and invisible, just down the street from the factory. It appeared though, a few days later than when they'd originally been around the factory given that it was another 'sermon day' for Gillyflower, trying to gain more recruits it appeared. But that was a good thing, because it made their plans that much easier.

The Judge stepped out of the TARDIS with Jack behind her, shutting the doors and glancing up and down the small alley, nodding to each other as they crept down to the street. They walked quickly to the factory's back gates, smaller ones, meant for taking out the rubbish, couldn't have that going in and out the main gates where everyone could see. She pulled out the sonic that the Doctor had slipped her and flicked it at the gate's lock, frowning when nothing happened, the gates rattling as the lock remained fixed.

"What's wrong?" Jack whispered to her.

"It's not working," she mumbled, bashing it on her hand and flicking it at the lock again.

"Why not?"

"If I knew, Jack, I wouldn't be doing this would I?" she flicked the sonic even more and more, making different whirring noises as she tried to find the right setting.

"Don't you just point and click?"

"Yes."

"So do that."

"I DID do that."

"Is it on the right setting?"

The Judge gave him a look, "It doesn't actually have settings, you know, the Doctor just rattles off a number to make you think he's memorized all these different things. Really you just point, think, and flick."

Jack nodded and held out a hand, "May I?"

She sighed but handed him the sonic, watching as he focused a moment before he flicked it at the lock, making it click open, "How did you do that?" she frowned.

Jack grinned and flipped the sonic over in his hand before holding it back out to her, "I'm not the frantic wife."

"I am not frantic," she huffed, but Jack just smirked, nodding as though he 'truly' believed that, and headed in, "I'm not!"

"Sure you're not," he laughed, his voice growing quieter as they reached a back door, watching as she tried to flick the lock on that as well before he plucked it from her hand and got that door open as well, "I may not know you, Judy, but anyone who marries the Doctor? If he's in so much danger that you came to ME for help?" he shook his head, "You're worried, and it's going to keep eating at your thoughts till you see he's safe again."

The Judge had to nod at that and let out a smaller breath, he was right. She was trying to focus, trying to make herself realize that getting the lock open meant they'd get to the Doctor quicker, but all it was doing was frustrating her that the lock was locked in the first place. She just…she wanted to find him. It really was like Jack said, she wanted to see that he was ok for herself. She knew that Ada hadn't disposed of him, she'd had the TARDIS check the coroner's reports from the time between her leaving and now when she'd realized days had passed but there was nothing about the Doctor, no new bodies in the last few days. That HAD to mean that Ada still had him in the factory, that he was still alive. She hadn't felt him die, but…that didn't mean he was ok. She could feel it, faint twinges of pain here and there, a sort of soft ache in her that she knew meant he was in pain. And she didn't like that, she just…she wanted to make sure her husband was ok.

"Here," Jack handed her the sonic back once they were in the factory, "Of the two of us, YOU want to find him more than me."

She bit the inside of her cheek so as not to reveal that she really didn't need the sonic to find him. She could feel it in her, a small tug, a tickle in her head, that went in one direction, where the Doctor was, but she didn't want Jack to realize she was sensing the Doctor like that. She was fairly certain that he'd realize that wasn't normal human behavior and grow even more suspicious.

So she flicked the sonic on, willing the beeping to be quieter as they walked along the halls. It was slow going, trying to follow the sonic trail, they had to be careful, they had to stop every now and then and duck down when other of Gillyflower's patrons passed them. Just because Gillyflower was busy greeting her new recruits and showing them the factory, getting them all situated, didn't mean the rest of her patrons weren't walking about. They had planned to do this during the night, when everyone would be asleep, to break through the gates, into the factory, and find the Doctor then. But the TARDIS had brought them to the daylight and, when they realized it was recruitment day, they thought it would be best to get the Doctor out as soon as possible. It was really only nearly dusk, the sun just barely starting to set so it wasn't like it would be that far off from the night.

"Not much of a factory is it?" Jack muttered as they passed a small set of windows running long side the hall, peering in to see that the 'factory,' or all the noises that went with it, was really just three rather large gramophones playing the sounds.

"Not a match factory no," the Judge agreed, pausing in their walking to squint at the sight of two men on the other side of the room, carrying a large flask of the red poison with them, heading for a lift, "And that's the poison," she added, nodding towards the men as the lift doors closed.

"Wonder where they're taking it," he mumbled.

"We'll find out soon enough," she decided, "We just have to find the Doctor first…" she looked up and down the hall, moving the sonic around till the beeping grew louder when she pointed it up. Her eyes spotted a door with a small stairway sign on it, "Come on," and hurried them towards it, rushing up and only pausing at each landing to see if the beeping would continue to point up or not, leading them up and up and up right to the very top floor.

Jack pushed the door open to the hallway, seeing it was very deserted, not even the feel of another person having used it, "Look," he held out an arm to stop her, having intently looked around them and spotted a set of footprints in the dust that was covering the floor. One looked very old, was covered in just the thinnest layer of dust, leading one way, but the other set was new and frequent, heading both directions.

The Judge turned the sonic in the path the one set had gone, the beeping increasing, sending them both hurrying down that direction. She didn't even need the sonic to lead her to one specific door around a corner of the hall, didn't need to see the old footsteps head for it and not come out. She could sense it, the presence of the Doctor much stronger than before, and knew he was right on the other side of the door.

"Doctor?" she called, resting her hand on the door, listening intently.

'_Carah!_' came the mental reply, though there was a very audible groaning noise from inside the room as well, accompanied by the jangling of chains.

"Here," Jack grabbed the sonic and flicked it at the door, unlocking it and throwing it open, revealing the Doctor, but not his Doctor, sitting there, his legs and arms outstretched before him, skin bright red, floppy hair hardened, in the same white underclothes as the other men, his face frozen in a wide expression of horror and pain, his arms shackled beside him.

"Doctor!" the Judge gasped, and hurried over to him, kneeling beside him, reaching out to touch his cheek, thankful she had gloves on so as not to touch the poison.

"THAT's the Doctor?" Jack eyed the man oddly.

"Time Lords regenerate," the Judge mumbled.

"Yeah, but into a kid?" Jack moved to squat beside her, flashing the sonic on the shackles to release him.

"Into anything," she answered quickly, reaching out to try and help the Doctor up, though his limbs were locked and stiff, forcing Jack to hurry and help straighten him out, "Man, woman, black, white, old, young…anything."

"Huh," Jack muttered, "And um, this stuff," he grimaced a bit at the red coating the man, able to see the oozing, sticky quality of it from right beside the man, "It's the preservative."

"Jack," the Judge sighed, "You're starting to sound a bit more human than Time Agent," she warned him, it was fairly obvious what it was given that she'd told him exactly about the red poison.

"Not quite sure what you mean by that," Jack tried to help the Doctor walk on, "I'll ask later."

"Good," she looked around, "Hold on," she hurried over to a small pile of clothing folded in the corner of the room, the Doctor's purple jacket and bowtie, thankfully, likely brought there by Ada. She moved to the doorway and peeked out, "Clear," she reported, turning to help Jack get the Doctor out of the room, the man walking stiffly, his legs and arms braced straight as he walked. She looked over when she heard the sonic buzz to see Jack scanning around, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to find something that'll help reverse this," Jack replied, giving her a glance, "We'll never be able to make it all the way back to the TARDIS with him like this and, since he's ok, the emergency…"

"Protocols won't kick in," the Judge nodded, though there was a small smile on her face at that, at how Jack was thinking ahead and working out the shortcomings of their current plan, trying to revise it and improvise as they went.

"Augh…" the Doctor tried to speak as they began to go down a spiral staircase, making the Judge look over to see his eyes on her, flicking back from her to Jack and focusing on her once more.

She nearly laughed at the strain around the corner of his eyes and mouth, "He's just here to help us," she glanced at Jack and back to the Doctor, "Husband," she added, smiling when the Doctor's eyes actually managed to widen at that. She knew what his look was for, even if he hadn't said anything in her mind, she could still hear his grumbling thoughts, about how she was smiling at Jack, because when women smiled at Jack it never ended well, and he didn't want her smiling at Jack and not smiling at him. She'd just…needed to reassure him, Jack knew who she was to him, even if she didn't know what she was.

"Someone's coming," Jack hissed as they passed a lift a few feet away from the base of the stairs, "Hurry," he started walking quicker, half lifting the Doctor as they moved, just barely making it through a thankfully unlocked door at the end of the corridor as the lift doors opened, "Yikes…" he breathed though, when they saw what was on the other side of the doorway, a small hall, much like the one at the base of the factory, that had a large window on one side, peering down at a different wing of the factory, the one that she'd described, with the large vats of poison, the men and women being moved around on racks and dipped in.

"Clara was dipped in that too," the Judge added, "She's alive, as far as I know," she glanced at Jack, "The preservation worked on her, she's here somewhere."

He nodded, turning the sonic around to try and find something to help once more, understanding that they couldn't exactly split up with the Doctor like that. They'd need him moving about and a help than a hindrance for this to work. Originally they were going to try and get him back to the TARDIS, reverse whatever happened, but this was going slower than they realized it would be, and they needed him better NOW.

The Doctor, however, took care of that, lifting his arm painfully and pointing half-curled fingers a few feet away, towards a set of booths in the walls with a circular, shaded vent in the front of it.

Jack glanced at the Doctor and the booth he was now lifting his other hand towards, "Got it," he nodded, moving to yank the door to the booth open, allowing the Judge to help the man inside. The Doctor turned, his eyes flicking down to the clothes while his other hand reached for Jack's hand, for the sonic, the two handing it over to him and shutting the door.

Jack and the Judge stepped back, watching as the light that shown through the small shaded area, red at first, soon turned the green of the sonic when the buzzing of it began as well. They glanced at each other and then back to the booth when the sonic stopped…

And, a moment later, the Doctor burst out of the booth, looking just like his usual self, purple outfit and all, no red skin, no frozen limbs, fully restored.

"Ah!" he cheered, "Missed me?" he moved right for the Judge without giving her a moment to answer, grabbing her and kissing her, not caring any longer about potential awkwardness, just so…relieved to see her alive and well, to be able to move, to be able to touch her again. He lifted her up still kissing her and spun around in the middle of it all, not daring to stop or pull away till he was dizzy (though he wasn't quite sure if it was from the spinning), and set her down, "You're ok?" he asked, touching her cheek, his eyes searching her own for any sign that she'd endured the hell he had.

"I'm fine," she nodded, hesitantly touching his face as well, relieved to feel it warm and soft instead of hard and red and cold.

"You've no idea how good that feels," he murmured, leaning his head down to rest it on her forehead a moment…till a coughing noise sounded beside them, making him turn his head and peek an eye open at Captain Jack standing there.

"Doc," Jack gave him a hard look.

The Doctor blinked and looked back at the Judge, speaking quietly, "You went to Jack?"

"Who else would I go to?" she answered back, equally as quietly, though it ended up being a rather bad whisper for both of them.

"Vastra? Strax? Jenny? Martha? Sara J…"

"Who else would _I_ go to?" she repeated, emphasizing this time.

"Right," he nodded.

"So she was telling the truth then?" Jack called, walking over, "Judy and I do know each other in the future. We're friends?"

The Doctor grinned at that, "Judy?" he gave her a look.

"Not a word," she muttered, a hint of a threat in her voice.

The Doctor let out a soft laugh, "Yes, yes," he nodded at Jack, "Good friends. Probably the best."

"And you're ok with that?" Jack eyed him, "Me…Captain Jack Harkness, hanging around your wife?"

"I trust her," the Doctor said instantly, he had made damn sure, in his time travelling, that he would still be able to be someone she'd trust, at least in that area, that she'd know he'd never betray her like that. He knew she trusted him there, just as he did, they both took their vows seriously in that regard.

"Not me?" Jack frowned just slightly, was THAT why the Doctor had left him on the Game Station?

The Doctor sighed, "And you," he nodded, "I do trust you Jack. Very much."

"Just how far in the future are we talking here?" Jack asked, "You're not the next Doctor are you?" he guessed as he looked at the Doctor, it was just…there was too much of a disconnect, granted he didn't know for sure, he'd not seen the man regenerate into this, but it was just…he couldn't make it work. The way they talked, the hints they gave…this couldn't be the Doctor after his.

"Do you see?" the Doctor grinned, pointing at Jack as he looked at the Judge, "Humans ARE brilliant."

"No," she shook her head, "JACK is brilliant. He's an anomaly, in more than one sense," she mumbled the last part, "HE is brilliant."

The Doctor pouted at that but shrugged, it was a start, if she could admit that at least ONE human was brilliant, it was a step in the right direction.

"And speaking of anomalies," the Judge continued, "I think you're forgetting a rather impossible one…"

The Doctor frowned at that a moment, before his eyes widened and he slapped his forehead, "Clara! Where's Clara?" he looked around, as though he'd be able to find her in the hallway.

The Judge tapped the sonic that was still in his hands, "Let's find her."

The Doctor looked down and grinned, flicking the device on and turning to hurry off down the hall, Jack and the Judge after him.

~8~

It had been far easier and quicker to find Clara than the Doctor, though the Judge was sure that had something to do with the fact that the Doctor could move around and, now that he was safe, she didn't have to worry about the sonic malfunctioning on her. Once the Doctor was seen to, she did worry about Clara, however she knew that the girl was safer and in far less pain than the Doctor was, they just had to find her and unfreeze her as the process had worked on her. And find her they had. They'd snuck down to the houses, to the courtyard, the sonic leading them right to Clara, sitting in a bell jar with a man beside her. Jack had smashed the jar and gathered Clara into his arms, the Doctor leading them back towards the booth he'd been restored in.

They were just waiting for Clara to 'thaw' as it were, the sonic having turned the lights within green just like last time.

"You think it'll work?" Jack asked as he glanced between them, seeing the Judge rubbing her hands on her skirt in nervousness.

"I hope so," the Doctor mumbled.

Jack opened his mouth, thinking now was as good a time as any to start getting some answers…when his words morphed into a shout of warning instead, "Doc!" he pointed down the hall, reaching out to pull the Judge closer to him and the Doctor when he saw a small gang of men and women enter the end of the hall and stand there, in formation, watching them.

"Oh, great," the Doctor huffed in irritation, "Great. Attack of the supermodels."

The Judge shook her head as the men and women pulled out weapons, clubs and planks of wood, clearly they had been discovered…not that any of them really thought the sound of glass shattering through the night wouldn't be heard. They knew that the moment they freed Clara, Gillyflower would know they were there, but they just had to get Clara unfrozen first and it would be fine.

"Humans and weapons," she murmured, frowning at the items.

"Time for a plan."

"I've got one," Jack remarked, pulling out a small revolver and aiming it at the men and women as three men began to approach.

"Jack!" the Doctor shouted, making a move to try and grab the gun away or at the very least lower Jack's aim…but Jack did that all on his own, fired at the men's feet instead, making them jump back.

"Jack," the Judge frowned as the men began to glare at them, "Please tell me that your gun is bigger on the inside and has more bullets than that?" he'd fired off 5 times, one at each of the three men's feet, before they'd backed away, saving him likely one bullet.

"Can't say that it is Judy," Jack grimaced, putting it away, he'd hoped to scare them off but it didn't appear working as now the entire mob was heading for them.

"Ok," the Doctor cracked his neck, "Time for a new plan."

The Judge looked from the approaching mob to the Doctor, then Jack, then the sonic, and back to the mob when a thought hit her, "How about this one!?" she grabbed the Doctor's hand and lifted it and the sonic above her head, wincing as a shrill noise went off, causing the glass beside them to shatter and Jack to cover his ears. The others weren't quite so lucky, were far too jarred by the noise to react and turned to flee instead, not wanting to experience that pain once more.

The Doctor blinked and laughed when they fled, turning to high-five the Judge, but reached out to take her hand in his when it was over, just smiling at her.

"Um, Doc?" Jack asked, amused when the Doctor just kept grinning.

"Hmm?" the Doctor hummed.

"I think your little friend's done," Jack nodded towards the box as the green lights started to fade.

"Oh, yes, Clara," the Doctor spun around and pulled the door open, the Judge jumping forward to catch Clara as she stumbled out, unfrozen, "Hello, stranger!"

Clara blinked blearily, looking up at them with confusion, "Doctor?" and then to the person helping her stand, "Ju…"

"Judy," the Judge nodded, giving Clara a warning look and hoping, for once, that the human would notice it.

Clara blinked a few more times, shaking her head, frowning slightly at how the Judge had said that but gave a small nod that made the Judge let out a relieved breath, "Right…"

"You're catching on," the Judge remarked, stepping away slightly, letting Clara stand on her own.

"Captain Jack!" Clara exclaimed when she saw the man standing there before them, though looking just slightly…smaller, less muscular, a bit younger, than the one she'd met before, "What are you doing here?"

"Getting you out of trouble it seems," Jack offered with a wink, guessing this was someone he'd meet in the future, and he was quite sure, giving Clara the onceover, that he would be rather glad to say hello to her when the day came.

"Think of it as a practice run for Torchwood," the Judge offered.

"Yes…" the Doctor said slowly, "And, speaking of aliens…that venom," he eyed his sonic, the readings it was getting off of it, off of the booth and the remnants of the fresh venom, "Not quite normal for earth in this era."

"What era is it from then?" Clara asked.

"Oh…quite a few back," the Doctor nodded.

"Then how did Gillyflower get it," the Judge wondered, "And how is she manufacturing so much of it."

"Exactly," the Doctor pointed at her, "We know she's trying to preserve people from the apocalypse, but what kind of apocalypse? If I had a pound for every time the humans cried apocalypse…"

"Well, let's go ask the old broad," Jack suggested, cutting in, recalling a bit too much of the Doctor he travelled with, how he felt about humans, the 'stupid apes' that they were, and rather avoiding that.

"We can't just go ask her," the Judge shook her head, "We need to make it seem like we know what she's up to or she won't say a word."

The Doctor snapped his fingers at her, "Yes, we work out what sort of apocalypse, we have our start."

"The mill was empty," the Judge offered, "The only thing in it was the vats of poison you both were dipped in."

"And the chimneys…" Clara murmured, "None of the chimneys blow smoke…why would they close the chimneys?"

The Doctor and Judge looked at each other a moment, the same thought hitting them at the same time, though both for very different reasons.

"I think we know," the Doctor remarked, gesturing for them to follow as he hurried to lead them away.

~8~

"There!" the Doctor pointed as he, Clara, Jack, and the Judge hid behind some crates and equipment in the factory floor, the Judge on his left, Clara on his right and Jack on her right…he may or may not have tugged his wife a little farther away from Jack in the process of them hiding. But that was fine, no one was complaining, certainly not Clara who seemed to have a permanent blush on her face while Jack seemed to grin smugly, happy he had an affect on her.

They watched as one of the men pulled a lever and opened a sort of gate area, revealing an enormous rocket ship was really what had been built in the factory all that time.

"Please tell me she's not going to poison the air," the Judge grumbled, her hands absently rubbing on her crouched leg…till the Doctor reached out and put his hand on hers.

He knew where her mind was going. They'd both worked out that the only reason to close the chimneys, the only source of air getting in a sealed house, was if something was threatening to come down it. And with how Gillyflower had been going on about destruction and judgment raining down on them, well, the woman was literal in a sense, she planned to have the poison rain down on the people, keeping her own little dolls safe in their homes. On Gallifrey, in the middle of the war, the Daleks had done something similar, but with acid. They would send rockets above the fields and blast them apart, letting the acid fall in droplets to the battle below. That was one way that the Judge had died, he knew, she'd gotten caught, so badly burned before she'd managed to find shelter using pieces of exposed and torn up Dalek shells and regenerate.

"Sorry dear," he lifted her hand and kissed the back of it quickly.

He hadn't been there for that either.

He'd been around just a little after the start of the war, trying to stop it, trying so hard that first year to bring peace…but when he'd failed he couldn't bear the fighting, breaking his promise as a doctor to become a murderer, and had run off, not returning till the end of the war. He hadn't been there when his wife had died, when his children had, only being there for the last one to fall.

The Judge squeezed his hand, feeling the remorse rolling off him. Usually their emotional bond was meant for physical pain, as a sign of danger, but in times of extreme emotion they could feel that as well, especially if they were close, especially if they were touching. She knew his largest regret was not being there for their children in those final days. And their children, after her anger had calmed from her shouting at him after the TARDIS was nearly destroyed, she knew she never wanted him to suffer that, she never ever wanted to use them as ammunition against him, and she had, and that had hurt him. It was all true, all of it, but after everything he'd had and lost in his life, the friends he'd lost, what he'd done in the war, she didn't want the children to be a weapon for her.

"The poison!" Jack whispered, leaning over, brushing against Clara more than was needed to point at two men carrying a large flask of poison up towards the rocket.

"We need to stop them!" Clara gasped…gasped, of course, from the threat to the human race, not because a rather handsome man was pressed to her side, not at all. She was not one easily swayed by a pretty face. Not at all. Nope.

"Yes," the Doctor agreed, clapping his hands, "Alright, gang, I've got a plan!" he stood up quickly…and ended up knocking over a metal pipe, making the Judge yank him down as the men and women in the factory paused, glancing over a moment, before they continued on their work.

"A little quieter, Doctor, if you would," the Judge remarked.

He grinned sheepishly and nodded, leaning in to whisper his plan to them.

~8~

The Doctor pushed a door open to a parlor room, a private room that Ada had led them to where her mother would be for the night. They had heard the young woman crying in the halls earlier and hadn't had the hearts to just walk off, especially not when Ada had helped the Doctor. He had thanked her for that thanked her for allowing him to return to his wife, and wanted to help her in return. But Ada was inconsolable, so upset from a prior altercation with her mother. She felt like she wasn't wanted, that she was a monster, evil, because her mother would not preserve her like the others due to her blindness. That had made the Doctor look at her eyes, at her scarring around it, a hard look coming to his face that only the Judge and Clara could see as he asked her who Mr. Sweet was.

But Ada wouldn't betray her mother, she was still fiercely loyal to a woman, a woman, the Doctor claimed, she didn't even realize was the one with true blackness in her heart.

And that was why they were there, in Gillyflower's study, with Ada hiding in the hall, listening in as the Doctor intended.

"You do seem to keep turning up like a bad penny, young man," Gillyflower laughed as she strolled over to the trio, who had paused when they saw that the room had a rather odd addition in the back of it. The wall had an enormous control panel, blinking lights, levers, the works, something that was far more complicated and complex than anything to be found in that time period.

"Force of habit," the Doctor bit back, putting a smile on his face as he led the Judge and Clara in.

Jack, as he hadn't been a part of their original introduction to Gillyflower, could still wander the facility largely unnoticed. The only ones that had seen him were that mob and they had only gotten a glimpse of him. With the right affects, he could blend in, and they needed that, they needed him to be able to sneak about. There was a rather important mission he had been entrusted with.

"And you know what they say about old dogs," the Judge remarked.

"Can I offer you something?" Gillyflower eyed them, "Tea? Seed cake? A glass of Amontillado?"

"No, thanks," the Doctor grew more serious, "We've had a skinful already, as you might say."

"Ha! Very funny."

"I'm the Doctor, that's my wife, the Judge," he pointed at the Judge who was eyeing the controls, trying to get a better look at them, "You're nuts, and we're going to stop you."

"You're starting to sound like a human dear," the Judge called, wandering past Gillyflower, "Stating the obvious again."

"Up bup bup," Gillyflower shook her head moving over to the Judge and grabbing her arm, turning her away from the controls, "No peeking," she warned jovially, and if there was any question if she was an absolute nutter, it was answered in that, how she smiled and laughed and didn't deny that she was up to something sinister, "And I'm sorry Doctor, but I'm afraid Mr. Sweet and I cannot allow our plans be stopped."

"Oh, yes," the Doctor turned to her, reaching out a hand as the Judge passed him, his fingers just skimming her arm as she turned to stand beside him, "Would it be impolite to ask why you and Mr. Sweet are petrifying your workforce with diluted poison?"

"So when do we get to meet him, this silent partner of yours?" Clara added, "Why's he so shy?"

"Mr. Sweet is always with us," Gillyflower patted her chest.

"So are a lot of human deities," the Judge countered, "But yours seems to have a physical presence," she frowned, "Unless you really are nutters and just hearing voices…"

Gillyflower glared at her for that, but the Doctor spoke again, not giving her time to respond, "You seem to have a very close relationship, you and your pal."

"Oh, yes, Doctor," and then she was all smiles again, a wide, barmy grin on her face, "Exceedingly close. Symbiotic, you might say," she chuckled and pulled the side of her dress apart, lowering the front of it slightly to reveal the top of her chest…

Where a large red leech was latched onto her front, turning its head at them, revealing razor sharp teeth for only a moment, before it returned to its provider as Gillyflower sprinkled some sugar on herself for it to eat.

"What is it?" Clara whispered to the Time Lords, just…gaping at the disgusting sight before her.

"A parasite," the Judge grimaced.

"A survivor!" Gillyflower hissed, defensive, "He has grown fat on the filth humanity has pumped into the rivers. That's where I found him."

"Very enterprising," even the Doctor looked a bit green at it all.

"His needs are simple. And in return, he gives me his nectar."

"You mean his poison," the Judge corrected.

"It is a nectar of the gods!"

"Mrs. Gillyflower," the Doctor cut in, shaking his head, "You have no idea what you're dealing with! In the wrong hands, that venom could wipe out all life on this planet!"

"Do you know what these are?" Gillyflower smiled simply, holding up her hands this way and that for him to see, "The wrong hands!"

"She's completely mad," the Judge muttered, glancing at the Doctor, "I mean, I know people say you're a madman, but this is…" she shook her head, humans, they took madness to an entirely different level didn't they? And it was saying something that a woman, a human, could be as mad as the Master had been.

Gillyflower just giggled and moved over to her controls, pulling a lever and turning on the lights all throughout the top of the factory, their glow visible through her large windows, focusing on the chimney at the end of it.

"Planning a little fireworks party, are we?" the Doctor frowned.

"You've forced me to advance the Great Work somewhat, Doctor," she admitted, "But my colossal scheme remains as it was. My rocket will explode high in the atmosphere, raining down Mr. Sweet's beneficence onto all humanity."

"Do you actually hear yourself?" the Judge nearly shouted, "Have you any idea what those words actually mean, because I can tell you, genocide is NOT ever a time to sound like you're doing a species a favor!"

The Doctor winced at that, recalling times he'd done the same, committed genocide, but at least he had never phrased it like that, for the good of the universe, yes, like with his planet, but just to do someone a favor…never.

"You'll wipe us all out!" Clara agreed, "You can't!"

"My new Adam and Eves will sleep for but a few months before stepping out into a golden dawn," Gillyflower clapped her hands, staring through the window, to the dark sky, to the stars with a satisfied look on her face, wistful almost, "Is it not beautiful, Doctor?"

The Doctor's jaw tensed at that but he took a breath, shaking his head, changing the subject, "Tell us about Ada, Mrs. Gillyflower."

"What?" she looked at them now, startled into reality for a moment.

"Ada, your daughter," the Judge reminded her, "The fact that I even have to remind you who she is is a testament to how completely barmy you are."

The Doctor put a hand on her back, knowing that the subject of daughters, of children at all, was a touchy one, for the both of them. Having lost their children, having loved them so much, to think of anyone acting so off handed about their child was disgusting to them. For this woman to stand there and act like Ada didn't matter, to do what they both now feared she had to the girl…it was truly nauseating.

"Tell us about your daughter," he repeated, stepping closer to the Judge.

"How can you speak of such trivia when my hour is at hand?" Gillyflower scoffed.

"She isn't trivia, she is your child!" the Judge shouted, making Clara jump with how much anger was in her voice.

"The child is of no consequence."

"She is your daughter!"

"Is that why you experimented on her?" the Doctor asked, his voice carrying more in how quiet his own fury was compared to his wife's obvious outrage.

"Experimented?" Clara nearly choked on the word, unable to even begin to imagine a mother doing something like that to her own daughter…and then to lie about it so casually…

The Doctor gave a solemn nod, "The signs are all there. The pattern of scarring. You used her as a guinea pig, didn't you?"

"God!"

And then Gillyflower shrugged, a sickening motion, "Sometimes, sacrifices must be made."

"Never a child," the Judge shook her head, "She should be the thing YOU make sacrifices FOR, not OF!"

"It was necessary!" she defended, "I had to find out how much of the venom would produce an anti-toxin. To immunize myself! Don't you see? It was necessary!"

"Mama?" Ada's quiet voice called, drawing all their attention to the door where she was standing, her expression set in one of horror, "Is it...is it true?"

"Ada…"

"It is," Ada gasped, clutching her walking cane tightly to her chest, "It's true. True."

"Ada, listen to me…" she tried to step towards her daughter but Ada set off on her own, angrily stomping her way across the room towards her mother.

"You hag!" Ada raged, "You perfidious hag! You virago! You harpy! All these years, I have helped you, served you. Looked out for you. Does it count for nothing? Nothing at all?"

"Ada!" the Judge tried to reach out to her as Ada lifted her cane and began to strike her mother, but the Doctor pulled her back, not wanting her to get hit by accident as Ada swung and swung, ignoring her mother's pleas to stop till she was too exhausted to hit again, leaving Gillyflower to slump against the door beside her.

Clara looked around, frowning when she saw the lights on the controls starting to flash faster than they were before, knowing that the controls were still connected to the rocket and it was powering up to launch. She quickly turned and grabbed a chair, lifting it above her head when the Time Lords noticed.

"Hang on, I've got the sonic screwdriver!" the Doctor tried to stop her, pulling out the sonic.

"Yeah?" Clara scoffed, "I've got a chair!" before she threw it at the controls, half ramming the legs into it, causing sparks to go off, the lights to flicker off as the controls shut down.

"The finesse could use some doing," the Judge begrudgingly remarked, "But…well done, Clara."

Clara positively beamed at that though Gillyflower let out a pained howl at the loss of her instrument.

"I'm afraid your rocket isn't going anywhere, Mrs. G," the Doctor grinned at the woman, flipping the sonic and putting it away.

Gillyflower glared at the Doctor a moment, before closing her eyes, bowing her head, then turning to look at Ada, reaching out for the sobbing woman, "Please, come to me, Ada. My child…" she pulled her daughter into her arms in a soothing hug, "You have always been so very..." only to pull a revolver from a pocket of her dress and press it to Ada's temple, "Useful."

"What are you doing!?" the Judge demanded of the woman, horrified she would do that to her daughter.

"No, Mrs. Gillyflower…" the Doctor tried to calm her as Ada begged for her to let her go.

But Gillyflower just gave a sinister grin and backed more towards the door she'd fallen against, "And now, if you'll please forgive us, we must be going. It is long past Ada's bedtime!" she turned, shoving Ada through the door and slamming it closed behind them, a lock falling into place just as Clara and the Judge reached the door to try and pull it open.

"Locked!" the Judge huffed, glancing at the door, "And likely not one the sonic could work on."

"No," the Doctor let out a frustrated breath, spinning around and trying to find something to help.

"And if we go after her, she'll just shot Ada to slow us down," the Judge closed her eyes, she'd seen it, the crazed look in the woman's eyes, she really WOULD do that to her own daughter if it would buy her time to see her plans through.

"Yes."

"She wouldn't!" Clara gasped.

"She would," the Doctor gave her a serious look…before a thought hit him and he spun around, grabbing another chair over his head, wasting no time in throwing it through the window, giving them a way out that would hopefully get them to the factory in time…

~8~

The trio ran through the factory floor, heading for the rocket on the other end, following Ada's shouts that they could hear even from there as she continued to beg her mother to stop, the Judge silently cursing skirts as she hefted up the edge of her own to try and keep up with the Doctor. They finally reached a small staircase to the side of the rocket, seeing Gillyflower on the next landing, Ada held in front of her like a shield as she tried to get a control box to work.

"Just let her go, Mrs. Gillyflower," the Doctor called, "Let Ada go!"

"Secondary firing mechanism, Doctor!" Gillyflower ignored him, "Mr. Sweet and I are too smart for you, after all."

"Mr. Sweet is a barely evolved leech," the Judge shouted up to her, "He hasn't got any thought or intelligence short of wanting food and warmth!"

"Then _I_ am too smart for you!" she cheered.

"Just let your daughter go, Mrs. Gillyflower," the Doctor held the sonic up as though it were a weapon.

The move seemed to pull enough of Gillyflower's attention as Ada was able to twist and break away from her hold, but fell down the stairs to another landing between the two groups in the process.

Ada winced as she heard her mother cock her revolver, "Shoot, if you wish, Mama. It is of no matter, for you killed me a long time ago!"

The Judge lunged, trying to get to Ada, to pull her back to somewhere with a little more cover, when Gillyflower shot at her, the Doctor pulling her back and out of the way of the bullet before he too tried to get to Ada as Gillyflower recocked her weapon, but fired again, forcing them both back. She let out a cackling laugh and turned to the small box, starting to sing as she went about fixing the controls, "I'll labor night and day To be a pilgrim!" she didn't even frown when the Doctor managed to pull Ada towards them, behind him and the Judge and over to Clara, for she had managed to pull the lever that launched the rocket up into the air, watching it fly into the heavens, "Now, Mr. Sweet, now the whole world will taste your lethal kiss!"

"Jack?!" the Judge called out, "Please tell me the mission's complete!"

"You know it Jude," Jack appeared above them, on a higher landing, looking down at them. He sent them a wink and placed the flask of poison beside him, making Gillyflower let out a rage-filled bellow.

"Very well, then," she snarled, "If I can't take the world with me, you will have to do. Die, you freaks! Die! Die!" she aimed her gun up at Jack, but Jack had pulled out his own revolver as well, aiming carefully as he knew he only had one shot.

Gillyflower fired up at him, her aim and eyesight utterly wretched with age, allowing Jack to fire one shot of his own, right at her feet, causing her to jerk back, losing her balance, as she toppled over the side of the stairs and fell towards the ground with a sickening crunch. The small group looked at each other a moment before hurrying down the stairs towards the ground, just in time to see the leech let go of Gillyflower and start to crawl away.

"No..." Gillyflower moaned, "No! Mr. Sweet? Where are you going? You can't leave me now, Mr. Sweet."

"What's it doing?" Clara frowned, watching the little red parasite.

"It knows she's dying," the Doctor sighed, "She's no longer any use to it."

"And it's despicable," the Judge murmured, "She's on her deathbed, and the one she's most concerned about is a stupid little leech instead of her own daughter."

"Mr. Sweet!" Gillyflower cried out, reaching weakly for the creature, proving the Judge's words…till she heard her daughter's cane tap on the ground as she reached the floor as well, "Ada? Ada. Are you there?"

Ada swallowed hard but pushed past the trio, moving to kneel beside her mother as Jack reached the floor as well, "I'm here, Mama."

"Forgive me, my child. Forgive me."

"Never," Ada whispered.

The Time Lords frowned when that single word, the implication of it, made Gillyflower grin, "That's... my... girl," she wheezed, before her head turned to the side, her eyes closing, moments before the empty rocket exploded above them, the woman not even able to see the 'fruits' of her labor.

"So…what should we do with Sweetie here?" Jack asked, walking over to them, hopping with a small skip over the leech as it moved.

"Take it back to the Jurassic era, maybe," the Doctor shrugged, "Out of harm's way…"

They all looked over when a squelching noise reached them to see Ada had managed to find the leech with her cane and took to bashing it to death.

"Or there's that," the Judge remarked.

~8~

The Doctor and Judge stood outside a small little house, Jack before them, the TARDIS behind. They'd dropped off Clara back at the Maitlands after making sure that Ada would be ok, introducing her to Edmund Thursday to discuss all that had happened there, trusting that the man would be able to help the woman who had helped them end it all. The flask of poison was likely going to be hidden away in the TARDIS, in some old storage room for the more dangerous souvenirs from the Doctor's travels, but they had wanted to see to Jack first.

"Doc," Jack shook the man's hand.

"Jack," the Doctor gave him a nod in return.

"…I'm not gonna get answers from YOU, am I?" Jack asked.

"'Fraid not," the Doctor smiled slightly, "There's…too much time, between me and him," he stated, thinking of his 9th self, the one Jack had really wished to speak to, "Less time between the next time you see me," he tried to add some sort of reassurance to him, "HE's the one you'll need to talk to Jack, not me. Sorry."

"Yeah," he nodded, "I figured as much," he could tell there was just…more to the Doctor, this Doctor. HE felt like there was unresolved issues between them, the Doctor before him had clearly made peace with a future version of him, but not HIM. He didn't like it, having to wait to actually understand everything, but…if it meant he'd have a better relationship with the Doctor in the future, if it meant he'd end up in the Torchwood with a friend like the Judge, he could wait, "And you, Judy," he grinned, reaching out to shake her hand, only to snag it into a kiss on the back of it, "I look forward to getting to know you."

"Stop it," the Doctor grumbled.

"Just think dear," the Judge laughed and patted his arm, "Right now, he's already said hello to me," she teased, "No reason for him to repeat that in the future."

Well, Jack, in the future, wouldn't KNOW he'd said hello to HER, right now he still thought her human, and that was for the best. Jack had…helped her heal, like Rose and Martha and Donna and Amy had the Doctor, and she didn't want to risk things turning out differently than they had. It wasn't always easy, but it was worth it in the end.

"At least I get to say 'see ya round' and actually know I will this time though," Jack smiled at them, nodding to them both before he turned and headed into his house. There was still so much he wanted to ask, but…he wasn't a Time Agent for nothing, he knew what the consequences were to knowing too much, the future could change and…he got the feeling he just might want the future that the two had lived through.

The Time Lords stood there a moment longer before they turned and headed back to the TARDIS.

The Judge glanced down at where their arms were swinging beside them and took a breath before reaching out to take his hand, linking their fingers together, refusing to roll her eyes at how the Doctor's face broke out into a grin at the action.

"Some adventure eh?" he made small talk for the few feet left.

"Understatement," she smiled.

"Learned a lot though, always good to learn new things."

She nodded slightly at that, "And to learn about old things too," she paused before the TARDIS doors and looked at him, making him pause as well, "I think…I think we also remembered a lot as well, us, being married for Gillyflower."

"We ARE married though," he pointed out.

"I know that," she remarked, "I just meant…other things that come with being married, other things that…that married people do that we haven't…that we both…"

"Going to admit," the Doctor frowned slightly when she trailed off, "Need a bit of a cheat sheet here…"

She let out a long breath and looked up at him, biting the inside of her cheek for a moment, before she leaned in, moving slightly on her toes, to press her lips to his and NOT in a peck this time, this time…not intending it to be a peck at all.

And when they parted, a few moments later, only seconds after the Judge had flushed and made an escape into the TARDIS, the Doctor felt a wide, beaming smile start to form on his face before he turned and followed her into the TARDIS.

And if he gave the corner of the box a small high-five on the way, well…he was too happy not to.

A/N: At least we got a small kiss out of this :) A new comfort between the Doctor and Judge. That made me smile if just a little, but I'm still just...-sigh- plagiarism :'(

Some notes on reviews...

Congrats on the baking and pastry! That is so awesome that you're going for something you love ;) I wish you the absolute best in it! :)

I can't say what'll happen with the Time Tunnel just yet, we'll have to wait and see ;)


	25. Nightmare in Silver - Part 1

Nightmare in Silver - Part 1

"No."

Clara nearly rolled her eyes at the Judge's answer, glancing at the doors to the TARDIS where Angie and Artie were waiting outside. She'd been caught out just after their last adventure, Angie and Artie had found pictures of her from the Soviet Sub, from the Caliburn House, and had cornered her for information, had even threatened to tell their father about it all unless she told them the truth. And the moment they'd heard time travel, they'd jumped at the desire to go with her, just for a trip, she'd gotten them to promise that much at least, just ONE trip and they would never speak of this again.

But the harder part was getting the Doctor and Judge to agree to allow the children to come on this round. She was honestly surprised that the DOCTOR was standing beside the Judge and actually agreeing with her. She…could guess why he was saying no, to be honest, but she needed this to happen otherwise the children would blab everything and she doubted either of them wanted that.

"Please?" she half-begged, "Just for one trip, and you can pick it, wherever you want to take them, I don't care if it's a dusty old museum somewhere, just…ONE trip, just one."

"No!" the Judge repeated, "Clara no."

"But…"

"We said no!"

"Doctor?" she turned to him, hoping she might be able to appeal to him with her big sad eyes and a hopeful smile.

"Clara…" he sighed, actually sounding reluctant to agree as well.

"What would be the harm?" she tried to smile more.

"We tried for a calm trip to Akhaten, to Vegas, to London…and we ended up nearly dying each time," the Judge reminded her, "With the Doctor's luck," she pointedly ignored the 'Oi!' he threw at her for that, "Do you really want to risk the children being in danger as well?"

"They wouldn't be," Clara promised, "Cos there would be three of us looking after them and…"

"And two of US," she gestured between the Doctor and herself, "Looking after the three of you."

"I'm not a child," Clara insisted.

"You're barely 30, that's not even close to being a kid for us," the Judge explained, "That's…that's being a toddler and those kids are babies in comparison."

"But I'm an adult by OUR standards," Clara argued, "And I'm in charge of them, ok? So if anything happens it's on ME, not you," she looked between them but they still seemed not agreeable, "Please?"

"Clara it is dangerous!"

"So's crossing the street," Clara argued, "So is them walking to school but they do it. Please, just…one little trip and that's all. I'll never ask you to take anyone with you again. I swear…"

The Doctor looked at the Judge and, for the first time she could actually see her husband against a trip. She knew better than most now why he'd never taken their children with him on adventures, and this, while the children weren't THEIRS, it was the same principle, they were children.

But the Doctor let out a sigh, "ONE trip only, and they do everything we say, ALL of you, understood?"

Clara beamed and jumped at them, hugging them both and uttering promises as she ran to the doors to invite Angie and Artie in, explaining to them the rules and trying to take a crack at making sense of the bigger-on-the-inside box they were now in for them.

The Judge looked at the Doctor, "Children? IN the TARDIS?"

"They aren't our children," the Doctor murmured, wincing as he said it.

The Judge's expression softened slightly as she reached out and put a hand on his arm in comfort. A large part of his reasons for never taking their children was that, if it came down to picking between them and a human, he'd pick them, every time. But he never wanted to be in that position and so had decided to take the species that would 'hurt less' if he lost than his own children. This was the same, in a way, take the humans along because it kept his own children safe. Take them along but let it be on Clara's head if anything happened.

"Nothing will," she whispered to him softly, hearing his last thought, "We'll…keep them safe," she promised, hoping that they'd be able to keep it.

While she wouldn't weep if a human ended up dead on an adventure due to their own stupidity and not listening to them…children were different. Children needed to be protected, but that always brought up two rather bad combinations that made it infinitely more difficult to succeed in.

Children never felt like they had to be looked after, rather hated when they were told what to do.

And children never listened.

~8~

The Judge was genuinely starting to worry about what the Doctor's interpretation of 'safe' was when she stepped out of the TARDIS to see a dusty gray, rocky landscape before them, one side of the wall black with an image of the earth hanging in space a good ways up the wall. An amusement park, that's where they were, one of the biggest in the Universe, likely THE biggest if the Doctor had anything to say about it. As though that were the safest place to bring children, a place where they could get lost or taken or make a wrong turn or get harmed…

A dusty old museum where they'd literally have to drag them along by the hand to keep them moving was far better than a world where they'd be more inclined to run ahead and escape them.

Still, she had to admit, it WAS a safer thought and place than trying to go surfing on lava or swimming in quicksand or other nonsense things the Doctor would have likely wanted to do if it had been just them and Clara instead of having children there. And, she couldn't help but notice, given there appeared to be a general lack of presence there, a lack of people wanting to ride the ride right before them, perhaps it wouldn't be too crowded and they'd be able to keep the children in sight better. There really wasn't anything there at the moment, some rocks set up before them, the TARDIS behind, a lone American flag stuck standing a few feet away.

"Well, here we are!" the Doctor grinned as he stepped out of the TARDIS after her, spreading his arms wide and spinning around to introduce the three humans to the area, "Hedgewick's World, the biggest and best amusement park there will ever be and we've got a golden ticket!" he pulled one out of his pocket and jumped onto a rock, "Eh, eh? Fun!"

"I'd have rather a place less 'fun for the family,' Doctor," the Judge told him softly, truly not meaning to harm him with her words.

It WAS a relatively safe place, and one that would be best to take excited human children to. But…it was advertised as a family fun area, and that term, family, it just made her hearts clench to think that the first time they were in a place designed for family was to take Clara and her 'family' instead of their own. They'd never done this, gone off-world to an amusement park. Granted they likely hadn't known this existed then, but it still stung that they could never take their children here, they could never be there as a family. Oh their boys would have gone mad being there, their daughter rushing about with her brothers, they'd have loved to be there as children, ride the rides, see the sights, but it was too late now, both in the sense that they were older, too old to enjoy it with the enthusiasm of a child, but also, well, the war.

A museum would have probably been better after all, less thinking of place their children would have loved to go to haunt them with missed moments.

But then again, their children truly just loved being with them at all, anywhere at all, they'd likely have been thrilled with a dusty old museum as long as it meant they'd be all together.

There was no escaping things like this, even Akhaten had brought memories like that up and it was likely every interesting place would as well.

"Fun?" Clara scoffed, not quite seeing what was so fun about all of this, there was literally…nothing but dust and dirt and rocks.

"Your stupid box can't even get us to the right place!" Angie half-glared at it.

"Oi!" the Judge pointed at her, "You watch your manners, Angie," she warned, "We could have taken you down the street for ice creams but we chose to take you and your brother through time and space, be polite and be a bit more grateful yeah?"

"But…this is, like, a moon base or something!"

"And that is no excuse to call us or our box stupid, understood?" she gave Angie a look, "You're a bright girl Angie," or at least she would assume so by human standards, "You can find better words to express your outrage than being insulting."

"And it's not the moon," the Doctor added, hopping to another rock.

"Actually, I think it does look like the moon," Artie mentioned, "Only dirtier."

"Have you ever been to the moon?" the Judge sighed, crossing her arms, at least Artie was a bit more polite. He shook his head, "Then how would you know that this is the moon?"

"It's really not the moon," the Doctor repeated.

"If it was," the Judge nodded, "Would we be able to breathe right now? Would we be this firmly on the ground?" she pointed to their feet, "Or would we be floating away?"

Artie blinked at that and started to look around, realizing that she had a point, "But…if it's not the moon, then what is it?"

The Doctor grinned and pointed at him, pleased he was being kinder than his sister and asking questions, "It's a Spacey Zoomer ride," he explained, though his expression dimmed slightly to the general lack of disuse around them, "Or it was."

"Psst!" a voice called, making them turn to see a man peeking out from a rock, as though a door had been cut into it, from behind which a hall was visible along with a light fixture hanging over the man's head, "'Scuse me. I don't suppose you happen to be my lift off planet? Dave's Discount Interstellar Removals?"

"Fraid not," Clara shrugged causing the man to sigh.

"They were meant to be here six months ago. That's Dave for you, see, unreliable."

"Stay where you are!" another voice ordered from the left. The man winced at that, quickly ducking back inside the hall and shutting the door seamlessly in the process only moments before a small group of soldiers in light green army garb rushed into the room, their weapons raised, a tall woman with blonde hair and very red lips moving ahead of them to face the small group of travelers, "Throw down your weapons and identify yourselves!"

"Do we really look like we have weapons on us?" the Judge shook her head, stepping up beside the Doctor as he hopped off the rock, the golden ticket held in the air above his head, gesturing at her empty hands and back to Clara who had ushered the two children behind her.

"Yes, yes, no weapons," the Doctor agreed, "Golden ticket! Spacey Zoomer?" he hopped a bit, "Free ice cream?"

The blonde woman, the captain obviously, narrowed her eyes at him, her gun still raised, "Who are you? This planet is closed, by Imperial order."

"How's this?" the Doctor whipped out the psychic paper, holding it up for the woman to read.

Her eyes immediately widened as she saw it, "Oh, I'm so sorry," she stepped back slightly, lowering her gun…and turned towards the Judge to give her a small bow, "Welcome, Proconsul."

"Proconsul?" the Judge blinked, looking at the Doctor in shock.

Even HE seemed a bit startled by that, turning the psychic paper towards himself to read it, his eyebrows, his rather delicate eyebrows, shooting up into his hairline as he saw that he HAD somehow made the paper identify the Judge as the one in charge. He had to smile at that though, shaking his head with a chuckle as he put the paper away, it was fitting, in a way. He'd spent so much of his travels being the only one in charge, in a role of leadership, making the decisions, but this was his wife. They should probably alternate after all, who was in charge and when, and he probably had quite a bit to make up to for her.

"Yes," he nodded, wining at the Judge, "Always loved me a powerful, strong woman," he took her hand and kissed it quickly, beaming as she smiled despite rolling her eyes.

"I wish they'd told us you and your husband were coming," the captain remarked, "Any news of the Emperor?"

"Not at the mo, I'm afraid," the Judge answered quickly, with far less stuttering than she was sure the Doctor would have managed. He always did get so flustered when he wasn't sure what the psychic paper would say.

"We pray for his return. If there is anything you need, my platoon is at your service."

"Thank you," the Judge nodded, "We'll be sure to keep you in mind."

The captain gave another half-bow before rounding on her small army, "Platoon, let's move out. On the double. Two, three, four! Two, three, four! Two, three, four!"

"She forgot the one," the Doctor mumbled as a joke, nudging the Judge as the soldiers departed, leaving the five of them alone once more…or at least alone for the moment as the rock-man stuck his head out once more.

"Have they gone?" he hissed to them under his breath, having them spin around once more.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded.

"Uniforms give me the heebie-jeebies. Come on. They can't stop me being here, but they don't like it," he turned, leaving the door open for them to follow, the Time Lords exchanging a look before they carefully followed after him, being sure to buffer the stranger from Clara and the children as they walked down the hall after him, following him towards a large door that the man threw open, revealing the planet beyond.

"Ha, ha! You see? I told you it was amazing!"

"Not quite so amazing at the moment," the Judge frowned.

The planet, what had once been a large amusement part…was just in shambles, torn apart, disused, rusted, just…in ruins.

"It closed down," the man sighed, "Wish I'd known that before I landed here. But let me show you my collection," he grinned and turned to hurry down another hall, "Come along, follow me, this way. This way in, come on. Welcome to my show..."

"I really hate following strangers," the Judge remarked to the Doctor under her breath as they followed the rather eager man who was rambling on and on about this collection of his.

"You married one," he reminded her, they really had been as good as strangers when they'd gotten married, "It didn't work out too bad, did it?"

The Judge looked up at him and offered him a small smile, taking his hand once more, "No it didn't," she conceded, squeezing his hand and smiling more as his own smile widened. She really did like this…this place they were at now, they were mending, they were finally, truly, mending and it…it made her feel like her hope was justified, that they COULD come back from this, from all the misery and pain of their past, could work it out and…and be better than what they had been, to endure all this and come out better.

~8~

"Please tell me this isn't going to be a haunted house theme," the Judge murmured to the Doctor as they stepped into the room that the man was so keen to show them. It was dimly lit, rather…creepy. There were wax works all around them, dusty portraits, peeling wallpaper, sofas that seemed to have been antiques, alien races portrayed every which way, some statues even covered with old cloth, just adding even more to the haunted quality of the room, making her tense beside the Doctor.

He let out a light chuckle and moved his arm around her waist, tucking her closer to his side, "If it is, I'll protect you from the mean old ghosts," he promised.

The Judge rolled her eyes at that, knowing that there was little to do to actually protect against a ghost, but feeling just the tiniest bit better that the Doctor was there with her and so solid against her.

"Webley's World of Wonders!" the man hurried down a set of stairs and into the middle of the room as they slowly joined him, his arms thrown wide, a grin on his face, "Miracles, marvels and more await you. I am impresario Webley," he bowed deeply as they reached the foot of the stairs, the children moving ahead of the 'adults,' "You see before you waxwork representations of the famous...and the infamous. Anybody here play chess?" the Judge nearly jumped out of her skin when the Doctor's hand shot into the air beside her, but Webley deftly ignored him, focusing on Artie instead, "Perhaps you, young man?"

"Actually, I'm in my school chess club," the boy nodded, leading the Doctor to pout and lower his hand.

'_I'll play a round with you when they're finished,_' the Judge patted his arm, making him smile a bit.

"Ah, follow me," Webley motioned for them to follow, turning to hurry towards a back room, throwing the doors open to allow them in. The room was rather cramped, with a large chess table set up in the middle, one old chair set up for a competitor, another occupied by something sitting under a large dusty sheet, "Now, let me demonstrate to you all the wonder of the age, the miracle of modernity. We defeated them all, a thousand years ago. But now he's back, to destroy you. Behold! The enemy!" he reached out and yanked the sheet off…

Revealing nothing but a Cyberman sitting there.

"Cybers!" the Judge gasped, feeling the Doctor pull her down to the ground as he shouted out to the others, 'Get down!'

They hit the floor, waiting for some sort of laser burst to fly overhead, for the Cyber to attack…but nothing happened save the robot lifting its head.

Webley, however, found their panic hilarious, laughing at them as he came around the chess table to encourage them to stand, "No need to panic, my young friends. We all know there are no more living Cybermen…"

"Are you completely out of your mind!?" the Judge snapped as they stood, "Living or not, Cybers are dangerous! They don't need just organic components to last, they CAN operate as just a metal suit! You should KNOW that! And you've got one just sitting there?! Have you completely lost your mind?!"

"Now now," Webley chuckled at that, not at all perturbed by her outburst, not feeling threatened as the Doctor gently tugged the Judge back, though the man moved her to stand a bit behind him as though protecting her from the metal man. He could see, though, that Clara and the children were now wary and that wouldn't work, "What you are seeing is merely a miracle, the 699th wonder of the universe. As displayed before the Imperial court," he added to reassure them, if it was safe enough to show the emperor, it was safe enough for them, "And only here to destroy you at chess!" he winked, "It's just an empty shell," he promised, "And yet it moves. How?"

The Doctor frowned at that, an empty shell was still a dangerous thing and for it to just be sitting there, demeaned to merely a chess player…that wasn't right. That wasn't how the Cybers operated. And he'd been around far too many enemies that were entirely too patient, waiting for the right chance to strike instead of actually being defeated. The Flood on Mars, the cubes on Earth…one glance at the Judge told him she was thinking the exact same thing, the Cyber likely wasn't just inactive, but biding its time. He quickly pulled out the sonic and walked around it, examining the suit for any sign that there was still some sort of power left inside it.

"Magic?" Angie crossed her arms, sarcasm dripping from the word.

Webley didn't seem to notice, "That might well be, young lady. A single penny wins you five Imperial shillings if you can beat this empty shell at chess."

"I haven't got a penny," Artie frowned, now very interested to see if he could beat the robot, he'd played computerized chess before, had beaten the program, it would be wonderful to beat an advanced robot as well, "But I've got a sandwich," he held it up.

Webley eyed it a moment, considering, before he nodded, "Alright, take a seat," he gestured at the empty chair that Clara pulled out for Artie. Webley smiled and gestured her and Angie to the side, opening the base of the table to show them that there was nothing under it, "It is free of all devices, and yet it has never been beaten."

The Judge scoffed at that, the Cybermen were rather often beaten by the Doctor, if the man had let HIM face the robot it would have been she was sure.

The Doctor glanced over at her for that, catching that thought and sent her a wink for it.

"Would you like to make the first move, young man?" Webley asked Artie, gesturing at the board.

Artie nodded and moved a pawn, nearly gasping when the Cyberman jerked forward to make his move, the Doctor and Judge tensing and watching intently for any sign of trouble or danger. But Artie just made his second move.

"Oh, no, Artie," the Doctor tried to help, "No, don't do that, it...it's a fool's mate," he sighed as the Cyber checkmated Artie.

"If you can tell me how it works," Webley spoke through a bite of the sandwich, "I'll give you a silver penny."

"Chew your food and swallow first," the Judge grimaced at him, she could literally see the food as he spoke, "Don't talk with your mouth full. Honestly have the humans cease to teach proper manners?"

The Doctor smiled and walked back over to her, knowing she was getting more snippy because of the rather large threat sitting in the room right across from Artie. He could tell, she had only glanced at Webley for a moment before focusing intently on Artie and the Cyber, as though just waiting for it to strike out at the boy.

"I think...you do it with mirrors?" Angie guessed.

"Hmm, mirrors, clever girl," the Doctor mused.

"But wrong," the Judge cut in, in what world were mirrors making a Cyberman actually move?

"Well, let's see, hey?" he moved closer to the table, leaning in to look more intently at it, "Low tech. It's a puppet, monofilament strings, which means the brains are in..." he stepped back to the chair the Cyber was in, popping a panel open beneath it to reveal a man crammed into the space underneath, a rather small man with a control in his hands and looking very uncomfortable to be there, "Hello."

"Hello," the man glanced up at them, "I'm the brains."

"Hello."

"Give us a hand?" the man held one out to the Doctor, allowing him to help him out of the box to stretch, "They call me Porridge. Ah, it's good to be out of that box."

"Misdirection," the Judge remarked to Clara and Angie, nodding at Webley and then the table. Make them think that the trick lied in the table, only for it to be in the chair.

"Ah, yes," Webley winced, realizing he'd been caught out, "For you, Miss..." he turned to Angie and 'pulled a penny' from behind her ear, "An Imperial penny."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at that rather simple magic trick…only to stiffen moments later when he spotted an odd little insect crawling up the wall beside him. He frowned, stepping closer to it, looking at it more intently as they started to leave the chess room and head back into the main room. The insect looked surprisingly like it was made of Cyber-tech. He swallowed hard at that, glancing at the others leaving and the little mite before hurrying after them.

"I have not one," Webley was saying, "But THREE Cybermen in my collection!" and with a flourish he pulled two sheets off of what they'd thought were statues only to reveal two more Cybermen standing there, frozen. The Doctor hurried over to them, scanning them quickly before nodding to the Judge, they were just as frozen and inactive as the one in the chess room.

"Is that the king?" Angie asked, pointing towards a tall wax sculpture of a man in regal attire, his head slightly facing up in a heroic pose.

The Judge frowned as she glanced between it and the coin in Angie's hand over her shoulder, and then the sculpture again…before her gaze slowly drifted down to Porridge.

"Emperor," the man corrected as he joined them before the statue, "Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, etc, etc, the 41st, defender of humanity, imperator of known space."

"He looks a bit full of himself," Clara remarked.

"Don't say things like that about the Imperial family, you can end up on the run for the rest of your life."

"And if every ruler turned out those that spoke ill about them they'd have no people to govern," the Judge countered wisely.

Porridge gave a small smile at that, before he gestured at the children, "Go on. If the kids want to ride the Spacey Zoomer, then I can operate the gravity console."

Clara smiled at that and hugged Artie to her as she led him out of the room, Porridge just behind her, the Doctor taking the Judge's hand to go with them though Angie lagged behind, staring at the coin and statue till the Doctor called for her to keep up.

~8~

The Judge leaned against the TARDIS as she watched Angie and Artie bouncing up and down on the Spacey Zoomer ride, apparently it was meant to mimic antigravity, simulate being on the moon. Well, near enough, she doubted that they'd be able to jump as high as they were, the moon DID have some gravity to it, but still…the children were enjoying it, laughing and smiling as Porridge worked the controls, Clara taking pictures on her camera phone. She really was going to have to talk to Clara about that, wasn't pictures what got her in this situation in the first place? And there she was taking more.

"Smile!" Clara cheered, "Say, 'Spacey Zoomer!'"

"We're flying!" Artie waved at her mid-bounce.

"Having a good time?" the Doctor asked as he walked over from where he'd been examining the controls over Porridge's shoulder, draping his arm around the Judge as he too leaned on the box beside her.

Porridge gently turned the controls off, allowing the children to drift back down to the floor, not wanting to just shut everything off and have them fall. Though the moment their feet were back on something solid the children rushed over to Clara, out of breath from their fun.

"I think that was the most fun I've had in my whole life," Artie beamed.

"It was..." Angie began, a wide smile on her face, though she quickly schooled it to one of mild interest, "Ok."

The Time Lords shook their head at that, neither of them able to recall if it was a typical reaction for girl's Angie's age to try and feign disinterest at things they actually liked. Their daughter had never been like that, even when she was a 'teenager' by their people's standards. She had always been a very open little girl, if she liked something she said it.

The Judge smiled softly at that, that was how she'd ended up with her husband, her daughter. She'd marched right up to one of her coworkers and told them, right to their face that she liked them. The poor boy had been so startled that, according to their daughter, he'd just stared at her for so long that she'd gotten exasperated, grabbed his hand, and started them off on a walk to just get to know more about each other. That had been just before the Doctor regenerated into his fourth self. He hadn't met the man till his fifth incarnation, when the boy had wanted to ask to marry their daughter.

It had been…quite a shock to the man returning to Gallifrey to find out that all this had happened while he'd been away. He'd gotten to know the man rather quickly though, had observed them, spoken to everyone that knew the boy before giving his permission. And, of course, it wasn't enough that their daughter was planning a wedding to stay on the planet. No. But at least she could be thankful that he'd still been on his fifth incarnation when their daughter had gotten married, if he had appeared in that ridiculous rainbow garment she was quite sure their daughter would have thrown him out of the wedding.

She should be thankful, she thought, that he even made it to the wedding.

If he hadn't, she had no doubt that their daughter would have stolen a TARDIS of her own and hunted him down to drag him down the aisle with her…that or their sons would have done so while she tried to keep the girl from crying that her daddy hadn't come home to participate in her wedding, it was, as on Earth, the parents duty to bestow their daughter to her husband, the parents of the son were meant to stand on either side of him as he received his bride.

The Doctor had, at least, managed to be there for the weddings of their children…not their grandchildren, but at least their children.

The Judge took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh, she was trying to let that all go. He had missed so much, but he HAD been there for some of it, mostly small things, but some larger. She had to remember that, she had to remind herself that anything that was so utterly important that the children would have suffered for him to not be there, THEY would have gone out there and dragged him back to Gallifrey for it. The truly large things he'd been there, the smaller things, the smaller things that the children had tried to say weren't that important, that if he missed it it was fine (even if it wasn't), well…he missed them and that was it. No use thinking on it now, really, no use at all…

She really did have to let this go.

The Doctor looked over at her just then, a sad, apologetic smile on his face as he leaned in and pressed a kiss to her temple, having heard her thoughts being so close to her, having the contact he did with her, but her thoughts were right. There was no way to make up for it now, to fix it, he couldn't cross back into his own timeline and even if he did want to…SHE wouldn't let him, she was a stickler for the rules after all. And she understood that there really was no way to go back and do it over. He would live with the guilt of all he missed, guilt that was so much worse now that his children were gone, leaving him thinking of all that time he'd wasted as wasted time, time he'd spent out in the universe when he could have been with his family…

Hindsight and all, you don't realize how much you miss something until it's truly gone.

The Judge nodded, resting her forehead to his shoulder a moment, silently accepting his apology. He kissed her forehead as well before he stepped away and looked around once more, pulling the sonic out to scan the area.

"Clara?" Artie asked, pulling the Judge's attention over to them once more, "I think outer space is actually very interesting."

"Right, wonderful day out," Clara smiled at the children, turning them to lead them back to the TARDIS, "But it's time to get the kids home," she added to the Judge.

"Yeah," the Doctor winced, spinning to face them, though hiding the sonic behind his back as though they'd be able to understand the readings off them, "Um, no. Not actually ready to leave."

"And why not?" the Judge frowned.

"I dunno. Reasons."

"Such as?" she crossed her arms, giving him a suspicious look.

"Insects," he offered, "Funny insects. I should add them to my funny insect collection."

"You collect funny insects?" Clara blinked at that.

"Yeah, I'm starting to. Right now."

The Judge paused a moment before hurrying after him as he turned to head back inside, "_What is it Theta?_" she asked quietly in Gallifreyan.

"_Cyber insects,_" he warned her, glancing back to make sure Clara and the children were following, "_Cyber-mites you could say. I saw them in the chess room, and again just out there…_"

"_And you think Cyber-mites might mean real Cybermen around?_" she guessed.

He nodded, "_I need to find out if there are, and even if there aren't, I need to find out what the mites are for and get rid of them._"

The Judge sighed at that, "_Let's hope it's only mites._"

The Doctor reached out and took her hand, he hoped that as well, because there were children there and Cybermen didn't care who you were, man or woman, old or young, to convert you.

~8~

"I don't think we should have left Angie and Artie there," the Judge remarked as she walked beside the Doctor through an empty terminal, her arms crossed over her green plaid shirt. They'd put the two Maitland children to bed for the night on two sofas set up in Webley's area, leaving them under Webley's watch while they went out to investigate the Cyber-mites. She'd wanted to stay there, but the Doctor had requested her help, it would be better with two sets of eyes trying to find the mites and evidence of the Cybers than to have to describe it to Clara or risk alarming others about the possibility the Cybers were still there.

They could hear Porridge explaining to Clara what had happened the last time the Cybers had been around, the wars that had happened, the destruction. The robots had advanced, had upgraded and grown stronger, using the humans for spare parts. It had gotten so bad that they'd had to blow up a section of the universe, an entire galaxy just to try and save the rest of them from the danger the Cybers posed. They both knew that if the humans thought for even a moment that the Cybers had returned, they'd blow up the planet to take out the threat…with all of them on it.

And they were not about to let that happen, especially without proof that the Cybers were back. But even just the threat would be enough for the small army to do such a thing.

"They'll be fine," the Doctor smiled lightly at her, even though he knew she wasn't fond of humans, right now she was only seeing children instead, "I promise. I told them not to wander off, and they won't."

"Really?" she gave him a look at that, "You really expect a teenage girl to listen to you?"

He nodded, "Why wouldn't she?"

"Because she's a teenage human?" she nearly snorted, "They are the worst people to listen to anything anyone says."

"No," he tried to defend, "Wouldn't they just…not care? Isn't that what teenage girls do? Not care? Unless…unless it's their hair or clothes or something?"

The Judge rubbed her head, "You're honestly expecting that telling a human child to not wander off, they won't?"

"Well if an adult tells them…"

"Do your own, fully grown, companions listen to that Doctor?"

"Not…much…" he winced, starting to realize the mistake in all this.

"Then THAT won't be much of a surprise then?" she pointed to the side, through a large magnifying glass they were standing beside, right towards the small barracks that the army had set up…barracks that Angie was now walking through, talking to the captain of the squad.

He let out a long breath before he held up his finger, thinking of something, and spun around to point at Clara, "Clara! Did you tell Angie she could go to the barracks?" he gave her a hopeful smile.

"You KNOW I didn't," Clara turned to him, and blinked, "She hasn't..."

"Clara," the Judge gave her a pointed look not to finish the question and why.

Clara sighed, nodding at that, why would they have asked that if Angie wasn't already in the barracks, "Come on," she turned and hurried in that direction.

~8~

"Angie!" Clara shouted as she led the trio into the barracks, seeing Angie standing there talking to the captain and hurrying over to the girl, "Angie!"

"She has to turn up and spoil everything!" Angie actually stomped her foot at that, "I wasn't doing anything! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"Because she is your nanny," the Judge told her flatly, "It's her job. One that you don't make easier by trapezing all over the place and being rude. Do you want to end up dead Angie? Is that what you want? Because as much as you think you're an adult and you're smart, running off when we tell you not to, in a world you're unfamiliar with, with people with guns around you is not smart! If you want to be seen as a mature adult, or a young woman, ACT like it!"

The Doctor had just let out a low whistle at that, he didn't know what it was about Angie but the girl had managed to get on her last nerve surprisingly quickly. He supposed it was a bit to do with the fact that the children, more so Angie, had been a bit of a brat in threatening and blackmailing Clara in the first place. Then being rude. Then blatantly ignoring their orders to stay put…and then the fact that there was some sort of danger there and the girl had just wandered off, it didn't help to know the children were in danger. It never helped.

His whistle however was cut off when the doors behind them were thrown open, blasted open really, flying off its hinges and landing on the ground to reveal a Cyberman standing there, looking nearly pristine.

"Cyberman!" the captain shouted.

And then chaos descended on the base. It was a blur after that, the soldiers scrambling to get cover, to grab their weapons, to attack. The captain was shouting orders about as the Time Lords tried to pull Clara and Angie back away from the Cyber. And then blasts were going off, lasers firing, but it was doing nothing to the Cyber who merely turned into a blur of grey and dashed past all of them, managing to grab Angie and race out of the room before they even knew what had happened. One minute it was standing before them, the next it was gone and so was Angie.

"Angie!" Clara cried, trying to rush after the girl.

"Clara don't!" the Judge grabbed her arm, keeping her back, "You do that you'll die too!"

"That was a Cyberman!" the captain gasped, rushing over to them, "But they're extinct!"

"Clearly they aren't!" the Judge snapped at the woman, causing her to scurry away.

"Clara," the Doctor turned to the girl, still staring off in the direction Angie had been taken, "Listen to me, I will get her back. Judge?" he looked at her, "I need you to stay here and keep an eye on them…"

"No!" the Judge shook her head, "I'm going with you, you're going to need help with them!"

"I'm going to need help HERE," he insisted, "More help really," he sighed, glancing at the Captain before beckoning the Judge to follow him over to the woman, "Captain, a word, please. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I take it your platoon doesn't do much fighting?"

"What do you expect?" the Captain sighed, making the Judge frown.

"What?" Clara shook her head.

"We're a _punishment _platoon. It's why they sent us out here, so we can't get into trouble."

"Wonderful, just…bloody wonderful," the Judge grumbled, realizing why the Doctor wanted her to stay. Of all the people on the planet, she and the Doctor were the only ones with actual war-knowledge, with actual information on the Cybers. Chances were, if they both left, the platoon would either get in more trouble or blow up the planet.

"Do you see?" the Doctor turned to his wife, taking her hands, "I need you HERE."

"I don't like this," she told him, but it wasn't a no.

He smiled at her, "I don't either," he touched her face, "But I trust you to keep things in order. You keep them safe, I'll get Angie back. I promise," he crossed his hearts.

The Judge sighed but nodded, turning to the captain and ripping her badge off the front of the woman's uniform, "As Imperial Consul, I'm appointing myself in charge of this unit," she declared, glancing at the Doctor, "You be careful," she warned him.

He nodded, "You don't let anyone blow up this planet," he gave her a quick kiss, moving to hurry away when she tugged him back by the hand she was still holding, making him pause with a confused look on his face. Before she leaned in and kissed him again, more than just a peck.

"_Please, Theta,_" she murmured, "_Really be careful,_" she looked up at him.

He smiled at that, "_I will come back to you Carah,_" he swore, "_Things are…they're different now. I'm not…I'm not trying to leave you,_" he whispered, "_I'm trying to stay with you as long as possible._"

She smiled at that, "_Go,_" she swallowed hard, squeezing his hand and letting go of it.

He leaned in to kiss her forehead before he turned and ran out of the room.

"Don't blow up the planet?" Clara frowned at that, not having wanted to interrupt the moment before.

The Judge sighed, "Think about how they stopped the Cyber-Wars Clara."

Clara blinked and nodded grimly, "Right."

The Judge took a deep breath, "Ok, first rule of warfare, what weapons do we have to fight back with?" she looked at the captain.

"Cyberiad class weaponry," the captain stated, gesturing to the side where the soldiers were already hefting large cases out of a side room, "We're taking it out of storage as we speak."

"Right, second rule, find somewhere easily defended and make it your base. What have we got in the park?"

The captain blinked a moment before gesturing them to follow her to a large map of the park, picking up a stick to use to point, "The beach, the Giant's Cauldron...Natty Longshoe's Comical Castle."

The Judge eyed it, "Clara?"

"Yeah?" Clara glanced at her.

"What do you think?"

Clara's eyes widened, "You…want ME to pick? Me, the human?"

The Judge took a breath, "I want you to be able to protect yourself one day Clara," she murmured, all too aware that Clara had no memory of the long shouting match and talk they'd had in the TARDIS when it had nearly been destroyed, but she knew Clara still sensed something about it, a new level of understanding, "I need to know that if the Doctor or I aren't around, you can still make GOOD choices. So, be my advisor," she offered that much, it wasn't much, Clara wouldn't be making the decisions in the end, but it would at least let her know what Clara thought, what she was learning, "And tell me, what would you pick?"

"Um…the castle?"

"Why?"

Clara frowned in thought, "Because the beach traps us against the ocean. You said that the Cyber things are just robots, if they're so deadly that they had to blow up a galaxy to stop them, I doubt water or sand will. They could get to us too easily."

"But the Cauldron?"

"We'd be trapped there too," she remarked, "I mean, it would be like us being trapped in a bowl. We'd be pooled at the bottom and if they climbed up and fired we'd be dead."

"So why's the castle any different than the cauldron?"

"Well…it's got a drawbridge," she pointed, "A moat, and if it's got electrics we can use that with the water. We'd be able to fire back from the walls, and we'd have stairs and windows and a roof to hide by," she waited a moment of the Judge not saying anything before glancing at her, "Was I right?"

The Judge nodded, "The castle it is."

"Ma'am..." the captain stepped closer to her, speaking quieter, "My platoon can deal with one Cyberman. And there are protocols if we cannot immediately find and destroy it."

"We are not blowing up the planet," the Judge countered.

"Respectfully, ma'am..."

"Do you see this?" the Judge pointed to the badge she'd stuck to her shirt, "This is your rank badge, means I am now your commanding officer, you listen to me or I have you court marshaled."

"Wouldn't want that, would you captain?" Porridge asked with a small smile, having finally caught up to them.

The captain glared at him, about to make a remark, before she bit it back, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of Porridge, "No," she offered instead.

Porridge eyed them "You really saw a Cyberman?"

"We really did."

"Have you reported it to the Imperium?"

"No communicators."

"And even if we did," the Judge cut in, "They'd just blow up the planet and we are NOT doing that till we are at least all safely OFF it. Understood?" she looked around, "Right, Clara, with me," she led the girl over to help grab a few of the weapons to carry out with them, leaving Porridge and the captain watching them go.

~8~

The only downside to be seen in the castle was that it was in the dead center of the park, it was easily surrounded but hopefully not easily breached. Clara had been right in how easily they'd be cornered in every location on that map, but the castle afforded them the best chance of fighting back.

The Judge rubbed the side of her head, feeling the Doctor suddenly get a bit more distant in her mind, she could still hear him, vaguely, but he'd teleported somewhere else in the park, she was sure of that. She'd been keeping track of him, not entirely trusting that he'd be completely safe, and had been disheartened to learn that Artie had been taken. The Cybers in Webley's room had come alive as well it appeared, he'd also found the Cyber-mites again and managed to tap into their frequency to teleport to their control base. She swallowed hard, trying to focus on the task at hand. The castle was within sight as she, Clara, and the captain led the small army towards it, she couldn't afford to be distracted by the Doctor just like she knew he couldn't afford to be distracted by her. That was probably another reason he'd wanted to go alone, make sure that she'd be somewhere safe while he worked away.

Though it didn't help that HE was in danger.

"Would the Empire really blow up the planet if they WERE alerted?" Clara asked as they walked.

"Would I have said that if they wouldn't?" the Judge countered.

"But really with us ON the planet though?"

"They destroyed an entire galaxy with billions of innocent lives in it, Clara," the Judge reminded her, "A disused planet with a handful of people on it? They wouldn't even blink. Now," she called to the others as they reached the base of the drawbridge, "Come on, we need to secure the castle and…"

"With respect, ma'am," one of the men, a tall one with ginger hair and glasses, called, "We ought to be hunting the creature."

The Judge glanced over at the man, giving him a small scoff, "You lot were confronted with it minutes ago and thought the best way to defeat it was throwing a cup at it and trying to tackle it with your bare hands," she shook her head, "You really expect me to think you'd succeed in hunting it down?"

"Look," Clara stepped over to the boy, seeing him wince at the Judge's remark, seeing the platoon looking down at how they'd failed to stop the Cyber before, all too aware of what the Judge's remarks could feel like, even if she knew the woman was right on that one, even SHE could guess that throwing a cup at a robot wouldn't do much…unless the cup maybe had acid in it, "The only reason I'm still alive is because I do what the Doctor and the Judge say," she told them gently, "The Doctor's gone to get my children back, alive, unharmed. You want to stop the Cyberman, ok, I can trust you might do that. But I trust HIM with the children. Ok?"

"You think he knows what he's doing?" the captain frowned, the man seemed a bit scatterbrained.

"I'm not sure I'd go THAT far," Clara laughed, "But the Judge is a bit more levelheaded and thoughtful," she could admit that, "SHE knows what she's doing with us, right?"

The Judge nodded, "We need to secure the castle."

~8~

The Judge let out a breath as she stood at the top wall of the castle, looking out into the night. She was worried, very, very worried. Because now she knew what had happened on the planet, why the children had been taken, why the Doctor's thoughts had gone to static in her mind.

It had hit her only moments ago, so badly that she'd had to excuse herself and hurry up there to get her breath back, to have the silence to sort through her thoughts and emotions. It felt like a crushing weight had settled in her mind, like something was squeezing her hearts for a moment as pain shot through her, the Doctor's pain.

He had been in the Cyber-base, the children had been there, taken over by the Cyber relays, Webley there as well though he was more partially converted to Cyberman. He'd told the Doctor everything, how the Cybers had built a Valkyrie to repair themselves, but when the people stopped coming there were no parts to repair with. He'd explained how they wanted children, they wanted to make a new Cyber-Planner, to use a child's brain for potential, but then they'd seen the Doctor's brain, the mites had scanned him. It shouldn't have been anything to alarm her or the Doctor, nor had it, because they knew that Time Lord was not compatible to Cyber-tech…

But they'd been wrong.

Webley had thrown Cyber-mites on the Doctor and they'd latched onto his head, to his temple, to his face and brain…

They'd taken him over.

But Webley had been wrong as well, the Cybers underestimated the Time Lord mind, it was too evenly balanced, the Cyber-Planner couldn't take over the Doctor fully and the Doctor refused to just give up his mind to it. He was fighting, right now, he was fighting to keep the Planner out. But it was taking so much out of him, making it hard for their minds to stay connected. It was like static to her, she could get words here and there, something shouted out, glimpses, but it was hard.

The more the Doctor fought against the Planner in his mind, the harder he made it for HER to hear him as well. She just…she wanted to know he was ok, that he had a plan, that he could beat this. She'd never heard of the Cybers using a Time Lord or even partially being able to take them over before and this was truly worrying her. The Planner was trying to make the most of it, sift through the Doctor's mind. She'd heard him vehemently shouting, nearly clearly through the static, about HER. The Planner was threatening to take her over after he'd used up the Doctor or burned through him, the Doctor had been furious, it had given him more clarity, enough to create a mental block and keep more information from being siphoned out.

She caught moments here and there, there was more than just the one Cyber that stole Angie, she knew that, there were three more in Webley's after all, but apparently there were thousands still out there. Her breath had caught not at that though, but at the Doctor's next thoughts, he'd been thinking of regeneration. She knew that option was impossible for him, but the Planner didn't seem to know that, thankfully, so he did have some sort of trick up his sleeve to keep them at a stalemate at least.

A stalemate that the Doctor seemed eager to end…with a chess game.

She closed her eyes, shaking her head at that, rubbing her forehead, of course the dunce would think to offer the winner of a chess match full control of his body. She had no doubts he could win…but if there really were thousands, maybe millions of Cybers out there, all with brain processing, then it was the Doctor against millions of brains and processing and strategy and…even she could admit those were staggering odds.

"Judge?" Clara's voice called over to her, pulling her from her thoughts and looking down a small set of stairs to see Clara at the base, "They've um, they're sorting the weapons."

"Coming," the Judge nodded, heading down the stairs and following Clara back to one of the main rooms, what appeared to be an empty but comical kitchen, where they were sifting through the weapons.

"Erm, ma'am?" the ginger man called, holding up a small radio, "Missy said she saw something, and then she went quiet."

"Clara," she pointed at her, "Why do you think Missy went silent?"

Clara swallowed hard, not even needing to think about it, "The Cyberman is coming."

The Judge nodded, "Ok, what Cyberiad Class weapons have we got?" they would likely pale in comparison to the weapons the Time Lords had developed over the years, but it was a start.

One of the men held up a gun.

"One gun?" both she and Clara asked that one.

"Cybermen have been extinct for 1,000 years," the captain defended, "Even one Anti-Cyber Gun is a miracle."

"Webley mentioned that a Cyberman suit had been presented to the Imperium," the Judge frowned.

"Yes, and?" the captain shook her head.

"What about it?" Porridge frowned.

"If a suit exists, then the Cybers are NOT extinct," the Judge sighed, "They are robots first, that means their suit exists…so does the robotic component. All this time you've had them on displays, REAL Cybermen, still alive, not melted down, but existing. NOT extinct by that logic. You should have had them all destroyed not just put on display like a trophy. They come back that way."

Porridge blinked as though just realizing that having even a Cyber-suit in existence meant that the Cybers still survived. They were robots for crying out loud! Just because the organic component was gone didn't mean they couldn't just walk around as a robot. It might power down, but there were always ways to power things back up and to have just left the suits…it was no surprise the Cybers were back now.

"What are those?" Clara pointed to something that looked like a glove with little pads on the fingers and palms.

"These things are hand-pulsars," the captain slipped one on to demonstrate, "Touch the back of a Cyberman's head, the electromagnetic pulse deactivates it."

"Please tell me that this," the Judge picked up a sleek black pen-like device with a bright red button on the end of it, "Is NOT the thing that blows up the planet."

"Implodes it," the captain corrected, "That's just the trigger unit," she turned and gestured to a large black box behind her, "This is the bomb."

"Then I'll be keeping this," the Judge muttered, holding the trigger, "Any other ways I should know about for how to activate that?"

"It's set to respond to MY voice. I have the verbal code."

"A verbal code you will NOT use unless I order you to," the Judge countered.

The captain frowned at that, pushing herself to stand and walk right up to the Judge, looking her in the eye, "I will follow my orders."

"Yes, you will…orders from ME," she tapped the rank badge on her shirt, "Don't test me, captain," she added quieter, "I've actually BEEN in a war. You fight me, you'll lose."

"You'll need to sign for that trigger unit, ma'am," the ginger boy held out a clipboard and the Judge, without looking, merely grabbed the pen and wrote a squiggling signature at the bottom.

"Mind if I take one of these?" Porridge asked, holding up a hand-pulsar, "Might be handy."

"Help yourself," the captain rolled her eyes, though she gave Porridge a meaningful look, "I'll teach you how to use it. Upstairs. Now."

Porridge frowned at her knowing look but stood and followed her out of the room, the Judge watching them go, disappearing up the same stairs she had before. She paused only a moment before she started to follow them, not wanting them to secretly discuss the bomb as she knew they'd be doing, because the captain clearly knew who Porridge really was as well.

She stopped halfway up though, her breath catching in her throat as she closed her eyes, nearly sagging against the wall in relief when she felt the static in her mind clear. The Doctor was back! He'd managed to keep the Cyber-Planner at bay…and he was on his way there right now.

She opened her eyes and shook her head, turning to hurry up the steps, she had to make sure they didn't blow up the planet for just a little longer, just till the Doctor got there…

She could only hope she'd be able to do it.

A/N: I want to apologize that this took nearly a week to update :( The last plagiarism really shook me up. The user put a message up on their page where they essentially barely/vaguely sort of alluded to what they did which is up on my tumblr's plagiarism report, but in a way where only someone that actually knew they committed plagiarism would understand what they were talking about :( It reminded me very much of another plagiarizer (one that's been coming back to bite me often the last near 2 years) where all they did was say 'I found mistakes and fixed them' to their readers instead of being open and honest and owning their mistakes :( I felt like they were saying that I was good enough to copy but not good enough that others deserved to know my stories existed. It just really brought up a lot of negative feelings from the 2-year plagiarizer, because they did the same thing in trying to brush it all off, and it was really hard to even look at my computer. I took some time away from it and writing, saw Dracula Untold, went to the Met with my dad, got called back for a potential job, and just took some time and I feel better.

I will be finishing the Judge's story, but I'm genuinely not sure if I want to continue to post/write DW :( Of the 14 times I've been plagiarized 12 were for DW and it gets hard after a while. I'm really trying not to let it get to that point, but at the moment, I'm just not sure if I want to make it to Series 8 for the other TLs, if I want to continue the spinoffs (so they're on hold for now), or if I even want to post my planned future TLs :( I'm not sure if I'll post the WWTW2 crossover since it involves Proffy and the others and I'm not sure if I'll be continuing them. But I WILL finish this story, there were only 6 chapters left before this one, and I'm hoping that by the time I finish it I'll have a better idea of if I want to remain in DW or not. I will still write fanfiction, but for other fandoms, I'm just debating keeping with DW at the moment :(

I do want to thank all of you for your support. I was contacted by wattpad that the user removed their story and page before they could look into it :( Still, thank you all so, SO much for your help and support, it really means so much to me :')

On a slightly happier note, today is Michelle Davidson's tumblr takeover day :) So if anyone is a fan of the Davidson Gospels trilogy for Supernatural, you can talk to her today on my tumblr ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I love anniversaries :) Sadly the plagiarism happened on my 2.5 year anniversary of writing, but there are other anniversaries that are happier :)

I did plan to do a spin off of the Judge's time in Torchwood for November, but with this last plagiarism I'm debating not doing DW at all so I can't say if I'll still be doing it yet or not :(

Lol, I honestly wasn't expecting Clara/Jack to happen till I wrote that chapter, I can say that I DO like it and it's sad because I had a moment in a future chapter that would relate to Jack in the future of the series, but I'm not sure if I'll keep it in because I'm not sure if I'll be continuing into Series 8 yet or not :( I might keep it in just incase I decide to continue though :)

We actually found out who Clara was to the Time Lords in The Crimson Horror, she's like their ward. Their charge, someone they're taking under their protection and custody, to help and support :) It came out as their 'niece' to Gillyflower, but really she's more like their ward. She can't be family to them, not with the scars of losing their children to the war, but she can be someone that they want to protect and help and take care of :)

Thank you for the A/N support :') And thanks, I've only heard of it in 101 Dalmatians before DW lol :) You have a lovely name :)

I'm holding off on WWTW2 for the moment, since I'm not sure if I want to continue Proffy/Evy/Angel for Series 8 I'm not sure if I should post the crossover either. Hopefully when the Judge is over I'll have a better idea of what I want to do and may post it then. I'll definitely keep writing, I'm just not sure if it'll be in DW :(

I wasn't a fan of the Crimson Horror either so I completely understand :)

I'm not really a fan of Two and a Half Men :/ My mother watches it and sometimes I see an episode or two, but I'm not really a Charlie Sheen fan so I can't really get into the show. There's always hope I might watch it in the future and like it more though :)

My thoughts for Missy are that she's the Master regenerated into a woman (Missy makes me think of Mistress) and since 'heaven' is like a wonderful place, it makes me think of Utopia :) Not sure, but I feel like she's a villain :) And that's cool, I'm actually really glad that people have different favorite TLs, means that I've made them dynamic enough where different OCs speak to different people :') I can't really say much about Series 8, at the moment, I'm not sure if I'll be continuing the TLs into that series or continuing with DW at all :( But thank you, I'm really glad you've enjoyed the stories so far :)


	26. Nightmare in Silver - Part 2

A/N: **VERY IMPORTANT NOTE! 6x PLAGIARISM! PLEASE READ!**

So, as I missed posting yesterday, I wanted to let you all know why.

It was brought to my attention that I had been plagiarized, yet again. But not just 1 plagiarism. No. _SIX_ :(

The user Darla Mae on quotev (and wattpad) had plagiarized parts of Angel's story in their story (Tomorrow's Yesterday), but not only that, they then went on to plagiarise parts of Proffy's story (and a little of Angel's still) in its sequel (The Day After Tomorrow), AND then plagiarise part of Evy's story in its 2nd sequel (Today, Tomorrow, Always). This was on quotev. AND all three were on wattpad as well. And since they were 3 separate stories that had parts lifted, and on 2 different sites, that's 6 plagiarisms in total.

I've now been plagiarized 20 times since the start of 2013 :'(

The user began originally, and had a start/finish to the chapters that was original, but quite a bit of it, non-show-dialogue, was exactly identical to mine, altered for 1st person instead so instead of 'Evy enunciated' it was 'I enunciated' and so on, with the OC's lines/references changed in some cases and unchanged in others.

I've taken screencaps and put them on my plagiarizers page if anyone wants the proof. The stories and user pages were removed, whether by the site or them I don't know. There is another part of the story that is rather upsetting.

Evanette Lennox (formerly Iris Melody Star) was a user that Darla Mae had dedicated some chapters to, mentioned frequently, and described as co-author. This had happened before to me where a proclaimed co-author was unaware of the plagiarism till I brought it up to them and I felt they deserved to know if they were unaware. Their reaction was angry and grew increasingly, well, a bit hostile (I have a screencap of that on my tumblr as well), which led to them blocking me and leaving comments about it on their profile which I cannot see as I am blocked :(

When I brought up the plagiarism, Evanette (formerly Iris) defended Darla and said that there was NO way the plagiarism happened because they wrote the stories together. Yet Evanette/Iris _also_ said that she had NEVER read my work...in which case, how would she know plagiarism was happening if she had nothing to compare what Darla was writing to? :/ I submitted my tumblr links of the screencaps to them and they were adamant that they still saw no plagiarism, that the only similarities they saw were the show's lines. I don't know how many times I've said this and made it clear that I do NOT look at show-dialogue as of course it would be the same (I do sometimes look at it if it's an OC-altered dialogue line but very infrequently). I look at everything else around it, how lines are described to be delivered, how actions are described, how scenes are described and things like that. THAT was the same. From what I glimpsed of Evanette/Iris's own works (before I was blocked) she had the same writing style as the person who wrote the start/finish original scenes. There was a distinct difference in formatting and style between the original moments at the start/finish and the middle of the chapters (the plagiarized parts). Which, I feel, adds to the clear plagiarism. A few others were brought to me in the past because of that, because of how different the style/editing changed between the author's original work and when my work appeared :(

Evanette/Iris seemed to ignore my remark that _my own typos_ appeared in Darla's work. My own style of tending to use ... frequently and '' instead of "" at times and, while I know that isn't a basis for plagiarism, it does send up red flags to me if they're all used in the same exact places as when I used them. Will two completely different authors _really_ describe something in the_ exact _same_ words, _in the exact same order? I truly do doubt that, especially when _original lines_ appeared in the story as well. Such as the Doctor speaking to Finnegan in Smith and Jones and remarking that his wife Angie says 'you don't learn from succeeding but from the mistakes you make failing' and how she had 'the best method of encouragement, she gives the most amazing kis...' (literally, it breaks off exactly like mine with 'kis...'). Lines and other things that were original appeared there. Darla was also one of my followers on quotev as well.

This whole thing was just terrible. The stories had been up since October 2013 so that means nearly a year of this happening and likely unrealized due to the original start/finish of the chapters and mild tweaking here and there. The plagiarism is being denied by the co-author despite the screencapped and physical evidence that there are parts of the chapters that are basically identical. And a few of my readers are worried that my accounts may now be attacked by the angry authors for me merely trying to defend and protect my stories :( And now I cannot even defend myself against the co-author as I've been blocked :(

I truly hate to do this, because I don't feel right in getting readers involved like this, beyond helping report a story, and I don't want to cause any problems for readers or even the co-author, but as I've been blocked and cannot see the page, I would just like to request if any quotev users happen to notice anything serious happen with Evanette Lennox in regards to my work or me, if you could let me know? I'd rather not be blindsided by something or have my stories start to be plagiarized again should their friend make a new account :( I don't mean stalk the user or spam or anything, just maybe keep an eye out? I've been made aware that the user seems to delete comments about what happened and block users :(

I might have thought it was just a very, _very_ big coincidence had only ONE story been plagiarized. But for all 3 different stories/series to clearly appear in non-dialogue portions? That's too much for anyone to believe :'(

~8~

Nightmare in Silver - Part 2

The Judge made it to the top of the stairs just as Porridge and the captain froze, quieting suddenly as though they weren't sure what she'd heard. She rolled her eyes at them, "I don't care if you are the Emperor," she told Porridge, "No blowing up the planet, until we're all off it at the very least. Ok?"

Porridge gaped at her, "How did you…"

"There's a wax figure of your likeness in Webley's," she reminded him, "Just because it's not exact in stature doesn't mean the same can be said for the face."

Porridge opened his mouth to speak more but Clara jogged up the stairs and joined them, making Porridge's mouth snap closed, "I don't get it," Clara shook her head, crossing her arms as she looked at the three of them, "Why would you blow up a whole planet, and everybody on it, just to get rid of one Cyberman?"

"Human stupidity," the Judge shrugged, "Extreme reactions. Paranoia of one escaping," she kept back her remark that one was always likely to escape always, it always seemed to happen with a deadly enemy, they could never ALL be defeated, the Universe could never be that kind, "Loss of sight as to the value of human life…"

"Ok, you can stop now," Clara held up a hand, moving to sit on a nearby crate, knowing, from the peeved look on the captain's face, that the woman was not at all pleased with what the Judge had been saying.

"We tried other ways," Porridge sighed, "But they only work sometimes. So now we take drastic action. And it works."

"If you find a Cyberman and you can't destroy it immediately, you implode the planet," the captain agreed.

"Yes and slaughter every single person on the planet at the same time," the Judge shook her head, "That are not the odds anyone would want."

She knew that personally, she saw it every day in the Doctor's eyes. He knew exactly how many people, how many children, were on Gallifrey when he ended the war. It haunted him every waking moment to know they were all gone and he had done it, that he had done it to stop the Daleks as well as the Time Lords…and still one always escaped. The Master had escaped and nearly ended earth and the universe twice over. And the Daleks, they were still out there.

To him it hadn't been worth it. IF, though, if he'd managed it where every Dalek was gone, where it was a blissfully Dalek-free universe, where one of the greatest threats to all life was gone…it might have been. But it wasn't now, not when the Daleks just kept coming back, not when the effects of the war could still be felt.

But at least in the Time War, it had been every single Dalek around the planet and on it and flying near it that had been taken out, ALL of the ones that could be managed. Not just one. Not one Dalek for the whole of Gallifrey. THAT was truly a ridiculous ratio, one Cyberman for an entire planet no matter how many people were on it? That was cruel and it was something like that that would make the humans the monsters a few species saw them as. To have such disregard for the lives of their own species. True, she wasn't fond of humans, it didn't mean she wanted them dead.

And right now, even though there were more Cybermen out there…well, she and the Doctor were there and the Doctor alone was more than a match for all of them, she could admit that. She'd do anything she could to help him stop them. And they would, they'd keep as many humans safe as they could and get them, and the children, off the planet before allowing it to be detonated.

"War is hell, ma'am," the captain glared at her for her remark, pulling her from her thoughts.

The Judge shot her a withering look, "Do not DARE speak to me of what hell war is," she nearly hissed at the woman, "Because I guarantee you have no idea. You're a punishment platoon," she reminded, "And your war with the Cybers has been over for 1,000 years. How would YOU know what war is like?"

"You're right ma'am," the captain straightened, though the Judge frowned at that, hearing something underlying the woman's words, "We ARE a punishment platoon. We were sent here, _I_ was sent here, because I didn't follow orders. I can make up for that," and so she turned and grabbed the bomb base she had sneakily brought up with her, turning to face them, daring them to challenge her.

"Release that now," the Judge strode over to her, holding out her arms for it, "I refused to allow this to happen. Captain you are ordered to relinquish that bomb this instant!"

"Yeah," Porridge moved to her side, seeming about to give an order himself only to remember his incognito status, "What she said."

"You ran away," the captain shot a glare at Porridge, "I will do what I was brought up to do. Live for the Empire, fight for the Empire, die for the Empire. This is Captain Alice Ferrin," she shoved past the Judge, using the bomb to slam into her shoulder and push her aside, stumbling into the castle wall, "Imperial ID 19-delta-13B. Activate..."

Before another word could be spoken, a beam of light shot past them, right next to the Judge's ear, only an inch away from it, and struck the captain in the side, making her fall to the ground, the bomb crashing beside her.

The Judge rushed to her side, crouching down as Porridge cried out that there was a Cyberman below, pressing her fingers to the woman's neck and sighing sadly, "She's dead."

Clara moved to Porridge, peeking down at the Cyber below to see it merely staring up at them…before it just turned and walked off, making her frown, "It's going…"

"No," the Judge stood, gesturing to two soldiers that had run up there at the outcry to take the captain away, "It's not," she turned to Clara, "Why would something that could fire at us just walk away Clara? Think."

"Um," Clara blinked rapidly, her mind racing, "It…it can't just keep firing at us if we know it's there, we can take cover."

"Right, and that means…"

"It's gone to find a weakness in our defenses," Clara gasped, her eyes wide.

"Exactly," the Judge nodded and turned to lead them down the stairs back to the main room, "Leave that," she called to Porridge as he moved to pick up the bomb, "We CAN defend ourselves here, but only for a short while. The more it learns about the castle the easier it'll be for it to find a way to breach the walls. We can't risk waiting for it to find a chink in the chain so we…" she snapped her fingers and pointed at Clara, startling the girl with how similar a move that was to the Doctor.

"Take it out first?" she guessed.

The Judge nodded and a rather large man, a bit round, stepped up to her, "Is that an order, ma'am?"

"Oh yes," the Judge nodded. She had to make sure that the Cyber was taken out before the Doctor got there with the children, she didn't want to risk them getting caught in the crossfire. She glanced at the men around her, "Is that going to be a problem?"

"No ma'am," the man shook his head, "We um…" he gestured at a few of them, "We actually have a plan."

"Oh this I _must _hear," she mumbled dryly, just wondering oh so much what brilliant plan the humans had come up with.

Clara elbowed her in the side for that.

~8~

The Judge stood on the upper walls of the castle, looking down at the 'plan' going on below. Of course the humans had thought to simply use the hand-pulsars to take out the Cyber. They, however, failed to realize that they'd be dead before they could get close enough to actually USE it. So she'd turned to Clara for another plan, had coaxed a bit, asked some leading questions, but ultimately it was Clara's plan now.

She really WAS trying to be better about Clara at least. Even if she still disliked humans, there were many of them, and most of which she'd never see again in her lifetime if she was lucky. Clara however, and the future Clara's (the companions), those were different. Those she'd be forced to see day in and day out for months if not years on end. She really would have to get over her issue with the Doctor having human companions if she ever wanted some semblance of ease with the Doctor and the TARDIS and all his travelling. She didn't want to be the thing that caused tension with all of them, she was realizing now.

And she didn't want to drive Clara away before she was sure the girl could take care of herself. So there she was, really trying to give it a go and be easier on Clara while still trying to teach her. She slipped, quite a few times, she knew, but she was trying, and that was something.

She watched as Clara stood up from behind a small turned table and fired at the lone Cyberman heading for her. It had been a simple plan. Lure the Cyberman in (they hadn't quite planned for two soldiers to be stuck with a relay device in the process but they had at least gotten the Cyber there), distract it (the portly man, Ha-Ha, he'd said his name was, had been rather brave to taunt the Cyber and draw its attention), and all Clara had to do was fire the Cyberiad class gun at the Cyber and hope she didn't miss. Ha-Ha jumped out of the way and, luckily, the blast was true, striking the Cyber right in the head and turning it to dust.

"Oi!" she called down as Clara and Ha-Ha hugged in joy, "Hug later!" she pointed to the two fallen soldiers who had now stood and started to move towards Clara and Ha-Ha, the Cyber-tech in control of them, "You two," she gestured at two other soldiers off to the side, "Hand-pulsars now!"

The men ran over to the controlled soldiers and used the pulsars on them, knocking them out.

The Judge let out a breath of relief at that, knowing that the pulsars would deactivate and short circuit the Cyber-tech. She straightened a moment, frowning at something, before she turned and looked over her shoulder, rushing to the other side of the castle wall when she saw it, the Doctor! He was heading for the castle, the children and Webley (of course, he WOULD try to rescue all of them) following him, what appeared to be a board of some sort, the chessboard, in his hand. She squinted, able to make out something reflective sticking to his face before she shook her head and turned to run down the stairs to the front of the castle, passing Clara and the other soldiers on the way, making them follow after her at a run given how quickly she was moving.

"Doctor!" she shouted as she ran over the moat that was being lowered, "At ease!" she ordered the few soldiers that had rushed out with her and were now aiming guns at the Doctor and the others.

"Judge," he breathed, smiling widely at her.

She slowed as she neared him, tilting her head to the side and leaning slightly when she saw the golden ticket was stuck to his face…a face that had small cybernetic mapping on one side, "The gold?" she guessed, recalling from some stories he'd told their children that older Cyber programs could be disrupted by, of all things, cleaning fluid and gold.

"Yeah," he nodded, staring at her with relief.

She reached up and touched the free side of his face a moment before stepping closer and hugging him tightly, "I couldn't hear you," she murmured as she felt his arms wrap around him, "It was all…static."

She knew that it was ridiculous to think that he'd died, that her being unable to hear him had been that. If he'd died, there would have been no noise at all in her mind, but still…it had shaken her.

He nodded, burying his nose in her neck as he tightened his grip on her, "I'm sorry. They surprised me. I wasn't expecting their tech to work on me."

She took a deep breath, inhaling his scent, before she pulled back, "It won't last long will it?" she asked, lightly touching the edge of the gold paper.

"No," he told her honestly.

"Right," she nodded, letting out a long sigh, "What do you need us to do?"

"First, how are you?" he asked, serious, "Everything ok here?"

"Well the planet's still here…" she left it at that.

"Good job," he winked at her.

"Doctor!" Clara called, catching up to them, the Cyber-gun still in her hands, "Did you get the kids? Are they alright? What's going on?" she eyed the gold paper.

He winced at that reminder of the children, "Bit of a good news/bad news/good news again thing going on. So...good news, I've kidnapped their Cyber-Planner, and right now I'm sort of in control of this Cyberman."

"Bad news?"

"Bad news, the Cyber-Planner's in my head. And DIFFERENT bad news," he glanced at the Judge, hoping he wouldn't have to say, "The kids are...well, it's complicated."

Clara lifted the gun a bit, "Complicated how?"

The Judge reached out and put a hand on the girl's arm, gently lowering the gun a bit, "Complicated as in they've been stuck with a relay like those two soldiers were."

Clara's eyes widened as her head snapped to the side to take in the children, seeing the relays blinking at the side of their heads, squinting as she saw that they were a different make than the ones that the two soldiers had been left with. She closed her eyes, "Please tell me you can wake them up."

"You don't think the hand-pulsars will work?" the Judge frowned at her.

"You wouldn't have said it was complicated if it was that easy," Clara shrugged, if the hand-pulsars would work, the children would be awake by now.

The Judge actually smiled at that, "Very good observation, Clara."

Clara sighed, shaking her head, "What's the other good news?"

"Well," the Doctor continued, "In other good news, there are a few more repaired and reactivated Cybermen on the way. And the Cyber-Planner's installing a patch for the gold thing."

"So bad news then?" the Judge shook her head at that, he was rather bad at deciphering good from bad in this incarnation. He once thought that being cornered by vampire-fish-women was Christmas.

"Right…um…" he frowned, trying to think of some sort of good news to counter all of it, and held the chessboard in the air, "I have a very good chance of winning my chess match."

"What?" Clara looked to the Judge instead for clarification, sure she'd missed something there.

"Not the time Clara," the Judge shook her head, moving to the Doctor's side and taking his arm, "We need to get you situated and restrained..."

"Yes, right," the Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at her, hurrying off with her towards the castle, the children and Webley just following in a daze, Clara taking up the rear with the gun, not about to let the children out of her sight just yet.

The Judge led him up to the throne room of the castle, likely the only room that had some sort of chair that he could be tied down to, she'd only see crates and boxes scattered around so far, but chairs in the throne room. She gathered a chair while the Doctor pulled over a table, Clara leading the children to one side of the room where they just stood there, staring blankly ahead, while the Time Lords worked to set up the chessboard and tie the Doctor down.

"Is that good?" the Judge asked as she secured the last of the rope she'd taken off the curtains to keep his chest and torso tied back to the chair.

He leaned forward, or tried to, but lifted his hands to wiggle his fingers, "Perfect," he nodded, "I won't be able to move, but... hands free. Good," he glanced at the Judge, "You…you may want to get out of here."

"Why?" she frowned.

"The Cyber-Planner," he lowered his eyes, "He found out about you, that you're my wife. He'll try to use you against me or…or use me to hurt you first."

"And how's he gonna hurt me?" she lifted an eyebrow at that, "You're a bit tied up at the moment dear."

"He could say things," he shrugged.

"Well then HE would be saying them, not you."

"What if he tries to trick you?" he frowned, truly concerned that his mouth and his voice might be used to harm her. They had been working SO hard to get to this place, a place where they were truly starting to heal, he didn't want to risk it, not for anything.

"He'd have to succeed first," she reminded him, "I…" she took a breath, "I like to think that I've gotten to know you, Doctor, THIS you, all yous. I like to think I'll be able to tell the difference."

"How though?" he whispered, his voice so soft she wouldn't have caught it if she'd not seen his lips move.

"You wouldn't hurt me intentionally," she shrugged lightly.

He looked up at her, seeing that true belief in her eyes. She wasn't denying that he had hurt her in the past, but she was making a distinction between what he'd done and what he could do. Back then he truly hadn't realized, he hadn't meant to hurt her, would never WANT to hurt her, but he had. She wasn't denying that, but she was saying she knew it was all a big mistake. She knew, in her hearts, that the last thing he would ever want to do was harm her in any way.

She trusted him.

He reached out one of his hands and too hers, tugging her to him as he couldn't move, making her lean in so he could place a gentle kiss on her lips, resting his forehead to hers a moment after they broke apart, "I needed that," he murmured, "To remind myself."

"To remind you of what?" she shook her head, not sure what it could be.

"To fight harder," he told her, "To not give in."

He glanced over at the humans, at Clara checking on the children, at Webley, and back to the Judge, words unspoken passing between them. He didn't want to give in, for her. The humans being safe was a bonus, but it was HER he was truly worried and fighting for.

"Give him hell," the Judge smiled at him, leaning back away from him, taking a step back, "And win the match."

He took a breath and reached up, ripping the golden ticket off, "He'll be hard pressed to win," the Doctor scoffed, his voice taking on a colder edge as Clara turned and frowned, even SHE could hear the difference in it, "He has no better than a 25% chance of winning at this stage in the game. Some very dodgy moves at the beginning," he glanced up at the Judge, "Hello wifey," and then tilted his head rather creepily at Clara, "And hello, flesh-girl. Fantastic! I'm the Cyber-Planner."

"Is that…" Clara began, stepping closer, but remaining nearer to the Judge than in the Doctor's actual line of sight.

"Afraid not," the Cyber-Planner, for clearly it was him speaking at the moment, smirked, "I'm working the mouth now. Allons-y! Oh, you should see the state of these neurons, he's had some cowboys in here. Ten complete rejects."

"You aren't the Doctor," Clara shook her head.

"The Doctor TOLD you about the Planner just outside Clara," the Judge reminded her and Clara could hear the age old irritation that told her she'd likely just said something the Judge considered stupid.

"Ooh," the Planner grinned at Clara, focusing on her now, "I know who YOU are. You're the impossible girl. Ooh, he's very interested in you."

"Why am I impossible?" Clara blinked, never having heard that remark from the Doctor or Judge.

"Haven't they told you?" he laughed, "Oh, dear me. Soon, we wake, we'll strip you down for spare parts, then build a spaceship and move on."

"You'll have to beat us first," the Judge warned, crossing her arms more.

"And we shall. They're waking from their tomb right now. You can either die or live on as one of us."

"Neither option, thanks," the Judge waved it off, "Here's a counter, you either give up or we destroy the lot of you."

"We…"

"Oh no," the Judge cut in, a small smirk on her face, "Take a mo to think about it," before she reached out and suddenly slapped the man across the face.

"Owwww!" the Doctor cried out, twisting in his restraints to lean more to the side, pressing his hand to his now-sore cheek, "Ow! Oh, that hurt! No, stop! Enough! Bit of pain, neural surge, just what I needed. Thanks dear."

The Judge shrugged, "Thought you might be getting tired of listening to him. I know I was."

The Doctor chuckled at that and pointed at her.

"Why am I the impossible girl?" Clara inquired, not bothering to ask why the Judge had slapped him, it had to be like he said some sort of neural thing to wake him up, like cold water splashed over you to wake you up.

"It's a thing in my head," the Doctor shook his head, "I'll explain later."

"Ok, then this chess game, what are the stakes?"

"If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories, along with knowledge of time travel. But if I win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then kill us anyway."

"You really are the WORST gambler ever Doctor," the Judge shook her head, "Those are the worst stakes ever to agree to."

The Doctor just winked at her.

"Stakes aside," Clara sighed, a pleading tone in her voice, "Please tell me you can fix what happened to the children."

"Children!" he nodded, "Yeah. They're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in stand-by mode."

"That is not fine!"

"Listen, right now, they have a better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do."

"Welcome back Cyber-Planner," the Judge frowned, hearing it instantly in the Doctor's voice, even just 'listen' had sounded wrong, sounded off, had a bit of an odd slur and intonation to it.

It was almost startling, to her, how easily she could decipher his voice, she truly hadn't thought she knew this him THAT well just yet.

"Ooh Cyber-Planner," he frowned, seeming displeased with the title now, "No, I prefer Mr. Clever."

"You'd have to prove yourself clever to earn that title," the Judge countered.

"Oh I see why he loves you," the Planner grinned darkly, "Sass and fire and disinterest you are. He has to work to impress you doesn't he?" he laughed, "Bet he never has impressed you though."

"You'd be surprised just how often he does."

The man shrugged the Doctor's shoulders, "Well, if you don't mind, I have a chess game to finish," he picked up a pawn, "And YOU," his gaze flickered up to the two women, "Have to die, pointlessly and very far from home. Toodle-oo," he waved at them with the piece.

"If you think I'm leaving you to your own devices," the Judge shook her head, "Think again. Clara," she turned to her, "You keep an eye on the troops."

Clara's eyes widened comically as she pointed to herself, the Judge giving her a firm nod, before she let out a long breath, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin as she headed out of the room with purpose.

She was not going to let either Time Lord down, not today.

~8~

The Judge walked back from the door to the throne room where Clara had just given her a report of a plan she intended to initiate. The moat, it was still full of water despite the planet being nearly abandoned and, if the Cybers were robots, then couldn't they be short-circuited like with the hand-pulsars? Couldn't they use a power line in the moat to electrify it and keep them safer? She'd given Clara her first pat on the back for that clever thinking, making Clara just beam and sass that 'humans may surprise you' before she'd gone off to do that.

She slowed, however, when the Doctor jerked in his seat, having been mumbling to himself while she was speaking to Clara, but now he was silent, blinking rapidly before he looked up at her, "Judge," he breathed, smiling widely at her, "Was that Clara? Was she giving a report?"

"Yes…" she began.

"Good, give me a quick rundown. What's our weapons strength?"

"I can tell it's you, Mr. Not-So-Clever," she crossed her arms again, smirking when his face morphed into a scowl.

She'd seen it, even before he'd started to speak, she'd SEEN it in his expression. It wasn't the Doctor's expression at all. It wasn't him. The corners of his lips were quirked up too much to be a genuine smile, his eyes were sparkling too forcefully with too much effort to not be an attempt, his jaw wasn't quite as relaxed as it always was when he smiled at her. It was so minute she knew she should have missed it, but she'd seen it, in his littlest of quirks she'd seen it.

It nearly took her breath away to realize she really DID know this version of the Doctor, didn't she?

She'd always prided herself on that, on how much she was able to gleam of him and learn about him in short bursts of time. He was always home so infrequently and for such a brief time that she only really got glimpses of his different incarnations. She'd made it a mission of sorts to learn as much about each incarnation as she could when she could. She observed him as much as she could, watched how he walked, how he smiled, his little mannerisms. She listened to his voice, to his tones, finding the edges and hidden emotions when he spoke to their children and regaled them with stories, heard the fear and the anger and the heartbreak and joy in his tones. She even could recall how different his skin felt in each incarnation, how different his lips were when he'd kiss her own lips, or her forehead or cheek or hand. She really did try to get to know her husband in the times he was with them, and it seemed it had paid off.

"You sure the Cyber-Planner's not just hibernating between moves?" the man challenged.

"You're scowling at me," she told him, "A scowl that this Doctor would never be able to muster, if you must know."

"I bet you'd just like to kiss it off me then, wouldn't you?"

"And get that close where you could grab this?" she held up her hand, still holding the trigger, something she hadn't let go of since she'd gotten it, "Not a chance. Though, I WILL do this…"

Not even Mr. Clever had time to see the slap heading for him.

"Ow!" the Doctor winced, "Ow! Ow! Stop hitting me!"

"Stop letting the Planner get the best of you then!" she countered, turning to go head to the window to see how Clara was doing with the moat, she'd heard the drawbridge starting to rise moments ago, when the Doctor jerked towards her and grabbed her free hand, stopping her, "Doctor…"

"I can't let go," he winced, struggling to pry his hand off of her wrist, "He's got control of the left arm!"

The Judge turned, moving to grab her forearm, near her elbow, to pull her hand out of his grasp when the Doctor's right arm launched out and grabbed the trigger from her, turning to bash it against the table, bashing it right into pieces.

"NO!" the Doctor cried, seeing what he'd done, knowing what that trigger was for. He let out a shaky breath, "He got what he wanted. He destroyed the trigger," he swallowed hard, looking up at the Judge with wide eyes, "My move."

"He wanted the trigger gone so we couldn't destroy them after," the Judge realized.

"And that's SUCH good news, boys and girls," the Doctor, no, the Planner grinned, "THEY'RE HERE!"

The Judge's jaw tensed as she bolted to the window, looking out to see that there were Cybermen approaching the castle, surrounding it.

"I've learned so much from you, Doctor," the Planner continued to speak behind her, playing with a chess piece, "It's been an education. But now it's time for the endgame."

The Judge began to rub the sides of her legs as she watched the Cybers approach the moat, pausing before it for only a moment before one took a tentative step in. Clara's plan worked, the electricity zapped through it, shorting it out…but only briefly as she saw it jerked and straightened, continuing on its way, clearly upgrading itself.

"They're nearly here. Now, you can take my bishop and keep limping on for a little longer…"

"Oh will you shut it!" the Judge snapped, "Honestly you're worse than a human with your gabbing and your gloating and your arrogance!"

The Planner merely smirked, pleased he'd irritated her, "Or you can sacrifice your queen," he continued to speak to the Doctor, "And get the children back, but it's mate in five moves. And I get your mind."

The Doctor winced and quickly moved his queen, "Take my queen," he looked up at the Judge as she made to hurry over to stop him, giving her a firm look, a pleading look, before returning to the game and the Planner, "And give me back the children."

"Emotions!" the Planner muttered darkly, "Can't you see what a foolish move that was? You've lost the game!"

"Oi!" the Judge did storm over this time, pressing her hands on the edge of the board to lean over and glare at the Planner, "He made the move, you give us the children."

The Planner rolled his eyes and waved his hands, Angie and Artie crumpling to the ground behind her. She glared once more, shooting the Planner a warning that the children had better be completely freed and unharmed, but he just lifted the queen and kissed it as she turned her back and moved to the children to check.

"Emotions, Doctor," he sighed, weary with all this rather foolish reactions to the thought of children in danger, "All for two human children you barely know. And it was a pointless sacrifice anyway."

"Angie?" the Judge helped the young girl stand, "You ok?"

Angie nodded, "What's…what happened?"

"No time right now," she glanced back at the Doctor, seeing the Planner still talking, but catching Webley starting to move out of the corner of her eye, turning to them, "Go to your brother and get back," she urged the girl away towards Artie as Webley jerked.

"Welcome to Webley's World Of Wonders, children!" the man started to try and walk towards them, "Now presenting delights, delicacies... and death!"

The Judge looked over as she heard the door open to see Porridge enter with the bomb, a hand-pulsar on his hand, "Porridge! The glove!" she held out a hand, slowly backing away, dodging Webley as he tried to strike at her.

Porridge quickly pulled off the glove and tossed it to her, the Judge slipping it on and ducking to the side of a blow, reaching out to press the pulsar to Webley's head, knocking him out, causing him to 'power down.'

"Judge!" the Doctor called.

She looked back at him, knowing it was HER Doctor that had called out, the fear and alarm and concern in his voice could only be him, emotion was something the Cybers could never and would never master. She gave him a reassuring nod, hurrying over to the children to let him finish this, trusting him as his eyes had pleaded her to before.

"Your move," the Doctor told the Planner, "But before you take it, just so you know, sacrificing my queen was the best possible move I could have made. The Time Lords invented chess. It's our game. I taught my boys to play, my girl was a Grand Master according to the standards. Taught her everything she knows. So if you don't avoid MY trap, it gives my lovely wife mate in three moves."

"How?" the Planner blinked, seeming truly startled by that thought, "How? She's not even part of the game?!"

"Judge?" Artie murmured, coming out of his 'coma' as well, "What's going on?"

"Bit of a bind, Artie," she answered, moving them back more, towards the window so she could look outside, the sounds of gunfire and shouting had been drifting up ever since the Cybers had crossed the moat, "Chess game for the planet actually."

She frowned, however, when she looked out to see that the Cybers had just frozen in place. It was good, as Clara and a few other soldiers had been cornered and were now making an escape, but it meant something else was happening, "What's happened?" she called to the Planner, "All the Cybers have frozen. What have you done?!"

The Planner smirked evilly, "I'm pulling in extra processing power. Three million Cyber-brains are working on one tiny chess problem. How long do you think it's going to take us to solve it?"

The Doctor jerked back into control, "That's cheating!"

The Judge bit her lip so as not to let on that THAT was how their daughter always managed to win against the Doctor at least, she cheated but not on the chessboard, always with distracting him or making him question his next move or smiling SO innocently at him that he ended up sweating about what she was planning for her next move because surely she had to have a way to win if she smiled like that. Their daughter was a little trickster when it came to chess.

"No, no, no, no, no. Just pulling in the local resources. There's no way you can get to mate in three moves."

"Three moves!" the Doctor fought his way back, "Want to know what they are?"

"You're lying!"

"No!" he shook his head, "Judge!" he tossed her the sonic.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" she shook her head, catching it.

"Move one turn on sonic screwdriver," he told her, not trusting himself to catch the hand-pulsar if she threw it, not trusting he'd even be able to tell her to throw it, it was taking everything in him to restrain the Planner, to grip the sides of the chair so hard his knuckles were turning white.

"Oh yes, of course, give it to the woman who has the most trouble with the blasted thing," she muttered, flicking the sonic repeatedly to try and get it on and working, not sure what she was supposed to be doing.

"Move two," he grunted, "Activate pulsar!"

"And?" she shook her head.

"Move three, amplify pulsar!"

The Judge's eyes widened, "Of course!" she felt like a human now to not have seen that coming. She quickly strode across the room, the sonic buzzing as it now followed her thoughts as she flashed the pulsar in the process.

"Do it!" the Doctor cried as she reached him, half-holding his breath to keep the Planner from attacking her or trying to stop her.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," she whispered, before slapping him one more time, the pulsar activating the second that it touched the cybernetic mapping along the side of his face.

"That's cheating!" the Planner shouted as the cybernetics fell away, turned to ash just like the Cyberman Clara had struck had been.

The Doctor nearly fell to the side, his head and shoulder landing on the Judge's stomach, panting from the pain and effort of it all, "Just…taking advantage of the local resources," he wheezed, smiling slightly when he felt the Judge run her hand through his hair in comfort. He took a moment longer, steadying himself, gathering his strength, before he pulled back, "Hello."

"Hello," she smiled down at him, touching his cheek, her fingers delicately moving over where the mapping had been, proving to herself that it was really gone.

"Um…could you untie me, please?" he asked after a moment.

"Well like this you aren't getting into trouble…" she teased.

"Oi!"

The Judge laughed and moved behind him, flicking the sonic to try and get the ropes undone, frowning and flicking and frowning more as the sonic was stubborn. She sighed and tossed it on the table before manually untying them.

"What are you doing?!" Clara's voice called as she and the remaining men ran into the room.

"It's fine Clara," the Judge waved her off, loosening the ropes, "The Planner's gone."

"He is?"

"Out of my head and redistributed across three million Cybermen," the Doctor nodded, smiling, "About to wake them up, kill us and start constructing a spaceship."

"And WHY are you grinning at that?" the Judge huffed, getting the rope off entirely, helping him stand.

"Because we can stop them," he winked, grabbing the sonic before rushing over to the bomb as it rested on the stairs to the thrones and crouching before it, "We need to destroy this planet before they can get off it. Ok," he flicked the sonic on, scanning the bomb, "It has a fallback voice activation! Oh that's really unhelpful!"

"The Captain," Ha-Ha frowned, "But she's dead."

"I think you should ask Porridge," Angie spoke.

Clara turned to her, a little confused, "Why?"

Angie just gave a little shrug, "Well, he is the Emperor. I bet HE knows the activation codes," she frowned when she saw everyone look at Porridge in shock, the man turning his eyes to the ground, and realized no one else had really noticed that, "Oh, come on, it's obvious. He looks exactly like he does on the coin and on the waxwork, except they made him a bit taller, but..." she sighed, rolling her eyes in the process, "Look, am I the only one paying attention to ANYTHING around here?"

"You are full of surprises," Clara smiled.

"She's right though," the Judge remarked, "He IS the emperor, the wax sculpture is identical, just bigger."

"So you can save us?" Clara turned to the man.

"We all die in the end," Porridge let out a breath, seeming reluctant, "Does it matter how?"

"What do we do?" the ginger haired soldier asked, shifting back and forth as the sound of metal footprints stomping drew closer and louder, the Cybers on their way.

"I don't want to be Emperor," Porridge confessed, "If I activate that bomb, it's all over."

"And if you don't, three million Cybermen will spread across the galaxy," the Doctor put it out there, "Isn't that worth dying for?"

"Doctor..."

"Three million Cybermen!"

"Oh, let him finish!" the Judge huffed, "If it needs a voice activation, he'll need to be able to talk to do it!"

The Doctor pouted at that but zipped his lips.

Porridge gave a little smile and nod at that, "The bomb, the throne, it's all connected. I just have to say," he took a deep, resigned breath, "'This is Emperor Ludens Nimrod Kendrick, called Longstaff the 41st, the defender of humanity, imperator of known space. Activate the Desolator,'" he glanced back at the black box now ticking down the seconds they had left, "And it's done. It'll blow in about 80 seconds. Easily long enough for the Imperial Flagship to locate me from my identification, warp-jump into orbit, and transmat us to the State Room."

The group looked at him oddly as he closed his eyes and took another breath, only for them all to stumble as the room around them seemed to stretch and flash out of existence, leaving them in a rather regally decorated, spacious room on a ship that was floating in space. Porridge had been deposited on a small throne on top of a platform in the middle of the room, two workers at controls in the back corners. A large window was behind them, the planet just hanging there in the dark of space.

"Oh, yeah!" the Doctor laughed, "Nice ship. Bit big. Not blue enough."

"And speaking of ships," the Judge sighed, reminding him of their own.

It wasn't a home, not to her, her home would always be Gallifrey, her second home with Torchwood. She doubted the TARDIS would ever be something she considered a home, she wasn't sure if she could do it, she really wasn't sure she'd ever reach a place where the box meant that much to her, not after everything. But she could admit it was important to the Doctor, and that the box had done a good job of keeping him relatively safe. She supposed she owed it to the box to not let it be destroyed just as it had made sure not to let the Doctor be destroyed on his travels.

"Yes," the Doctor snapped a finger at her and spun on his heel to walk over to Porridge, "Listen, there is a large blue box at coordinates six-ultra-19P. The Judge and I, we need it transmatted up here right away."

"Mind your manners Doctor," the Judge called, giving him a look that told him to set a good example for the children.

He grinned widely to see that look, he hadn't seen that expression on her face in…far too long, "Please," he added to Porridge.

"Right," Porridge turned to look at one of the workers over his shoulder, "Did you get that?" the woman nodded so Porridge turned back to them, though his gaze locked on the Hedgewick's planet just outside the window, guiding all their attention back to the planet as well, "And that's that. 76, 77, 78, 79..."

The room shook from the force of the blast, knocking everyone save Porridge to stumble back from it. But they all shared a laugh at that, grinning at each other, pleased that they had saved the Universe from the Cybers once more, even if the Time Lords were silent on just HOW many times a Time Lord had been involved in that event.

Clara led the children over to Porridge, the two sitting down on the steps of the platform as Porridge gave a small salute to the planet, "Farewell, Cyberiad. You know..." he sighed, "It was GOOD to get away."

"But what in the world made you choose the name Porridge?" the Judge shook her head, she'd been dying to ask that since she'd realized who the man really was. Truly, Porridge? She knew some humans that named their child 'Apple' and there was that one man with the last name 'Bacon' but Porridge was one she hadn't heard of.

Porridge himself didn't even seem to know, just shrugged, "It wasn't MY name. It was just…something inconspicuous. Made me feel like a person again, and not to be lonely or Emperor of 1,000 galaxies, with everybody waiting for ME to tell them what to do."

"Can't you run away again?" Artie frowned, feeling for the man with so much expectation put upon him.

Porridge gave him a look, touched by his concern but also knowing it would be impossible, "They'll be keeping a close eye on me this time. That's what happens when you're Emperor, loneliest job in the universe."

"You don't have to be lonely," Clara reached out to put a comforting hand on his arm.

Porridge blinked at that and nodded, "I don't," he whispered, as though just truly realizing that and working out HOW to be not-lonely, "Clara..." he turned to her, moving onto one knee, taking her hand off his arm to hold between his own, "Will you marry me?"

"What?" Clara gaped.

Artie grinned widely, "He said..."

But his sister elbowed him in the ribs to shush him, "She heard what he said."

"You're smart and you're beautiful, and your wise, you were one of the best advisors," Porridge continued as though the children hadn't spoken, thinking about how the Judge had trusted Clara's judgment, which had to mean something, "And I've never met anyone like you before. And being Emperor won't be as hard if you're by my side. And you'd rule 1,000 galaxies."

The Judge glanced at the Doctor, seeing him just standing beside her with a smile on his face, amusement in his eyes, his arms crossed loosely before him, "Aren't you going to stop that?" she questioned, just under her breath enough where he was the only one to hear her.

"Why would I?" he looked at her, "I'm just pleased he didn't ask YOU. You're MY wife."

She let out a small chuckle at that, he reminded her so of their second son just then, he went through a rather possessive stage at one point, everything was HIS, "You'll be out a companion," she reminded him.

"Humans are abundant," he shrugged, though there was a note in his voice that he did genuinely care whether Clara said yes or no but that he had a feeling it would be no and there was no point to worry, "My wife is one of a kind."

The Judge looked away and blushed slightly at that.

"Porridge," Clara began, her voice so regretful that the Doctor's suspicions were proven correct, "I...don't want to rule 1,000 galaxies."

"Yeah," Porridge nodded, "Silly of me."

"I'm really sorry."

"But that's stupid!" Angie cut in.

"Oi, Angie, use better words," the Judge called as she and the Doctor walked closer, "Unintelligent, dim, thick, brainless, obtuse, foolish, unwise, daft, imprud…"

"Yes, thank you," Clara cut in this time, sending the Judge a narrow eyed look for that, despite the fact that Angie was grinning widely at the new words she could use.

"You could be queen of the universe," Angie lamented to Clara, "How can you say no to that? When someone asks you if you want to be queen of the universe, you say, 'Yes.' You watch. One day, I'LL be queen of the universe."

Porridge gave a soft chuckle at Angie's words and stood from his knelt position, "Of course, I could have you all executed, which is what a proper Emperor would do."

"A proper emperor would appoint us heroes," the Judge countered, "It's bad form to execute the people that save your life."

Porridge nodded at that, giving them a gentle wave, "Go on, get out of here, all of you, before I change my mind."

The Doctor took the Judge's hand, leading her off with the children as Clara gave Porridge a winking salute, turning to jog after them as he waved them goodbye.

~8~

"Judge?" Clara called as she joined the Time Lady by the doors of the TARDIS, the Doctor saying goodbye to Angie and Artie by the console. She knew the Judge would likely say goodbye to the children as well, but she really needed to talk to her before the Doctor or children came over.

"Yeah?" she glanced at Clara, shutting the doors, just having wanted to make sure they were really back at the Maitlands, "What is it?"

"Thank you," Clara said quickly.

"For what?" she shook her head, not sure what exactly Clara was on about.

"I know…" Clara hesitated, not sure if she should reveal this or not, "I know of the two of you, YOU especially didn't want the children here. I know you don't like the idea of kids in the TARDIS cos of how the Doctor never took your kids on adventures and…"

"How do you know that?" the Judge frowned, crossing her arms.

Clara winced, "I…might have overheard you shouting at him when the TARDIS went funny that one time."

'When the TARDIS went funny' meaning when it completely was destroyed until they'd stopped it happening with the Big Friendly Button that is.

"You heard that?" the Judge winced as well, she'd already had her discussion with Clara, even if the girl didn't remember it, she hadn't wanted her to hear all of that. While some of it dealt with humans, much of it was personal.

"Yeah," Clara shuffled, she'd heard all of it actually, "I just…I was almost to the hall when I heard yelling and I thought the TARDIS was going funny again and wanted to help but it wasn't the TARDIS, it was just you…going off on the Doctor…"

"Clara…" she sighed.

"No, no, that's fine," Clara cut in quickly, "You're married, married people have rows at times, I get it. Everyone has rows. I just…I wanted you to know that I understand, why you weren't very happy with me, being human and all, what I represent to you in being a companion on top of that. I get it and…I'm trying to be someone worthy of all this," she gestured around, "I think…I hope, we're getting on better?"

The Judge nodded, "Yeah, I think we are."

Clara smiled at that, "I also heard the part about the children and…I know this must have taken a lot to let Angie and Artie come on top of everything. So…thank you, really, it means a lot to me."

"You're welcome," the Judge responded, "But um…Clara, this is a ONE time thing, ok. No more children in the TARDIS."

"Done," Clara promised, crossing her single heart.

"Bye!" they heard the Doctor call, glancing over to see him waving at Angie and Artie as they headed towards the doors.

"Bye!" Angie waved back, smirking at the Judge as she passed, "Bye, Judge Judy."

The Judge groaned at that, "Did he tell you to call me that?" she sent the Doctor a mock-glare for it, but he just winked and smiled.

"Thanks, Clara," Artie thanked as he passed them, "Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Doctor!"

"Really Doctor!?" the Judge huffed, rounding on him with her hands on her hips as Clara led Artie out of the box, shutting the doors after them.

"What?" he shrugged playfully…only for it to morph into a yawn.

The Judge let out a breath, "Come on," she took his arm, "Off to bed with you."

"But I'm not tired," he pouted, almost petulantly, "And we need to find out what Clara is. And…"

"And nothing," she cut in, leading him into the halls, "You were just taken over by a Cyberman, Doctor, it's got to be exhausting, I know I'm plum dead tired too."

"You are?"

"Worry about you makes me tired," she admitted.

He paused, having just reached his bedroom door, "It does?" he asked softly.

She glanced up at him, "You're too important to me for my mind to shut off when I worry, can never rest. Makes me antsy, so I stay awake. Over the centuries, worrying about you just makes me tired by default."

"Oh, then you'd best get some rest too," he nodded, leaning in to kiss her forehead, "Goodnight dear."

"About that," the Judge called just as he'd turned his back to open his door, biting the inside of her cheek, wondering if she was just overly tired and this was making her do this or if…if it might be something else, maybe she was finally going mad after having been his wife for so long.

The Doctor blinked when, after a moment, she was still silent, "Yes?"

"I know you," she began, "I know…your expressions, I know your mannerisms, how you talk and walk and eat and your tastes and feelings on things and…" she took a breath, "I know that…I miss you. I miss…knowing YOU."

His eyes widened at that and he pointed at his bedroom door, unable to really muster any words at the moment.

"Yes," she let out a breath, "But…" she let out a bit of a frustrated sigh, she was making a mess of this, "Not like…not THAT, just…just yet," she added, "I know so much about you, Theta, but I…I don't know you enough. As much as I want to know you. I know that…the times you hug me or hold me, I…I like them. And I just…"

"It's ok Carah," he cut in, a soft smile on his face as he realized what she was trying to say.

He merely opened the door to his room and stepped aside, allowing her in.

Nothing would happen, nothing but sleeping, but when they would both wake in each other's arms, they would know that they liked that feeling as well.

And if the Judge's belongings happened to find a place in his room after, well, they could always blame the TARDIS.

A/N: So, again, sorry about the lack of chapter yesterday. It took me more than 12 hours to gather all the evidence I could of what happened. I literally sat in front of my computer all day on my day off to do it. I was so upset I didn't eat till about 11 pm, and had been working on it since before 11am. And by the end of the day I was just really upset :( And then the whole mess after and just -sigh- It doesn't help me want to continue DW when people do things like that, you know?

But I hope you liked this chapter, bit more healing and things and a new step up for the Doctor/Judge (Dudge? Joctor? Judtor? Dodge? Tharah? Carta? No idea lol. But now I'm thinking of the Magna Carta after that last one).

Still though, thank you all for your support in dealing with the plagiarism from last week. It was sad it ended up 1 week and 1 day before the next was discovered :(

Some notes on reviews...

I fully plan to continue Piper and Gold, but not till the Judge is finished and then I'll resume that story :) I'll be honest though, at the moment struggling to even get the Judge finished after this last 6x plagiarism :(

Your sisters sound adorable and that would be perfectly fine by me if they'd like to dress up as them for Halloween. I've had that request in the past and it always warms my heart :')

I don't think I'd ever take down the stories, as it stands, the date-stamp is probably what helps me prove plagiarism is happening and, while it would be possible if I ended up posting the ENTIRE series of something in one day that my stories came first (because they're clearly finished before another person's) I wouldn't want to lose that proof. Though I do take a screencap every time I post a story just to be safe :(


	27. The Name of the Doctor - Part 1

The Name of the Doctor - Part 1

Clara was completely startled to go from falling face first towards her bedroom floor at the Maitland home, to find herself sitting in a rather lovely, though Victorian, room with odd red blobs drifting past what should have been windows. Even more startling was the fact that a woman who appeared quite reptilian and what looked like a baked potato with a face were sitting before her. There was another woman, a normal looking human with black hair though, so that was something.

"Um…hello?" she offered, really not sure if she was in danger or in trouble or what was going on, how she was even there.

Had she been kidnapped?

"So glad you could make it, Clara," the lizard woman gave a nod of her head in greeting before sliding her a cup of tea, "I am Madame Vastra," she introduced, "This is my wife, Jenny," she gestured to the human girl.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance miss," Jenny smiled.

"And our associate, Strax."

"Madame Vastra why is this boy here?" Strax demanded instead of greeting the confused Clara.

"She's a GIRL, Strax," Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Sorry," Clara shook her head, "What's going on? How am I here? How do you know who I am?"

Vastra smiled at that, she, Jenny, and Strax had gotten quite an excited phone call from the Doctor a short while ago, well, a short while for them, who knew how long ago it was for the Doctor…if it had even happened. He'd been rambling on and on about how he and the Judge had actually FOUND Clara, another Clara, in the modern era as he called it. He'd said that they'd been in Victorian Yorkshire investigating some disturbing deaths and had thought of them. He'd been planning to bring that Clara to Victorian London to introduce her to the three of them when the TARDIS took them somewhere else. She remembered reading in the paper, an article by a Mr. Edmund Thursday, about the Crimson Horror, or as she knew it the Repulsive Red Leech for that was all she could think of in the vague and coded words that Edmund had used to describe the deaths.

She'd taken notes while the Doctor had gone on about Clara, made sure to take down where he'd found her and when he'd found her and all that. If anything ever happened, she knew how to contact Clara in the future and now was that time.

"My apologies," Vastra bowed her head again, "We are friends of the Doctor. As, I believe, you are his companion yes?"

"Yeah…" Clara said slowly, eyeing them, "He mentioned me to you?"

"Quite a bit," Vastra nodded, "It feels as though we've already met," she gave a soft chuckle, Jenny laughing as well at the bit of an inside joke.

"We have…" Strax began to say when Jenny elbowed him in the ribs to quiet him.

The Doctor had been very clear that the this Clara had no recollection of the other adventures she had apparently had.

"Ok," Clara glanced around, trying to take it all in and be calm about it. She didn't sense any danger off the three before her and they were polite, and if the Doctor had told them about her he must trust them, right? "So…" she cleared her throat, "Where am I?"

She _really_ hoped she hadn't been kidnapped.

"Exactly where you were, but sleeping," Jenny took a sip of her tea.

"Time travel has always been possible in dreams," Vastra smiled at the thought of it, it was quite awe-inspiring to think of just how far the human mind could reach when given the proper nudge, "We are awaiting only one more participant."

"Oh, no," Strax's lips pursed in distaste, "Not the one with the gigantic head?"

Jenny swallowed her tea quickly, "It's hair, Strax."

"Hair!" somehow his lips pursed even more.

Before Clara could ask what was wrong with hair, there was a blast of smoke that went up in the seat beside her and, before she could even blink, a woman was sitting there in a lovely cream colored dress and jacket, her curly brown hair poofed around her head.

"Madame Vastra!" the woman smiled.

"Professor!" Vastra slid her a cup of tea as well, "Help yourself to some tea."

"Why, thank you," the woman took the cup and lifted it to her lips, only for a champagne flute to touch her mouth instead, a bottle on the table beside her now.

"How did you do that?" Jenny breathed, looking between the woman and her champagne to the cup of tea in her own hand, hoping she could fix it into something a little stronger. For Vastra to call a meeting like this…it was more serious than anything they'd dealt with before.

"Disgracefully," the woman grinned.

"It's a dream world," a voice said from beside them, "If you dream it, it exists. For example…" a chair appeared before her.

"Judge!" Vastra gasped, a hand on her heart, her eyes wide as she gaped at the woman moving to sit down, crossing her arms over her green plaid shirt, she clearly wasn't expecting the woman given that another chair had to be made, "How did you…"

"If you're going to send someone a soporific, Vastra," the Judge gave her a firm, displeased look, "Don't coat the paper. Anyone that picks it up will end up here, so thanks for that," she let out a breath, lifting her hand to her lips, a small glass of an odd liquid in it. It was a peach color but with a red sort of tinge around the edge and smelled oddly like blueberries somehow. The Judge just let out a happy sigh after drinking it, a beverage from Gallifrey, dreams like this were the only place she could taste it again. It was odd, how a simple juice could mean so much, a little reminder of home, "So, what are we all doing here?"

Vastra, whose mouth was still hanging open from the Judge's sudden appearance, closed it with a snap and looked at Clara, "Perhaps you two haven't met," she offered the two other human women across from her, floundering, trying to think of a way to stall this, to come up with a way to get the Judge out of there, "This is the Doctor's companion, Clara Oswald…"

"Professor River Song," River nodded at Clara.

"YOU'RE River?" Clara's eyes widened at that.

River glanced at the Judge, "You two mentioned me?"

"A bit," the Judge nodded, "The Doctor's fond of mentioning all his past companions and you ARE the daughter of his past companions," she shrugged, "Now that I think of it though, I don't believe he actually mentioned you were a woman…"

"Isn't River a woman's name?" River frowned at that.

"River Phoenix?" the Judge offered and River nodded at that, it was quite a unisex name, "But I doubt we're here to go over names," she turned to Vastra, "I would quite like to know what you wanted with our Ward, Vastra," she gave her a look, "The fact that you're bringing River into this means it's serious and he IS my husband, I would like to know what's happened that caused this."

Vastra let out a breath and waved her hand before the table's center, launching a projection of a man sitting in a dark and damp prison cell, rocking back and forth, muttering to himself, "Clarence DeMarco. Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this…in exchange for his life," she waved her hand once more and the image shimmered, turning instead to a series of stars and points of light, lines mapped out with small symbols added to it.

"Space time coordinates," River observed.

The Judge, however, straightened in her seat as she realized exactly what the coordinates led to, "How did he know of that?"

"Mr. DeMarco claims it is the location of the Doctor's greatest secret," Vastra sighed.

"Yes, but HOW did he know?"

"He claims the Whisper Men told him."

"You're kidding," the Judge shook her head, "The Whisper Men are a myth! They don't exist. They're just…a boogeyman that parents tell their children about."

She could still remember the poem of the Whisper Men, could recall in detail how the Doctor had read it to their children at night sometimes, for the more 'haunting' holidays on Gallifrey. His voice low, a whisper of its own. 'Do you hear the Whisper Men? The Whisper Men are near. If you hear the Whisper Men then turn away your ear. Do not hear the Whisper Men whatever else you do. For once you've heard the Whisper Men they'll stop and look at you.' It was just a spooky story!

"Like the Toclafane?" River brought up softly.

The Judge looked over at her for that, recalling when the Master had 'created' that enemy, used another boogeyman to get to the Doctor. In that sense, they DID exist in some form.

"This is different," she insisted, "This isn't a Time Lord creating all this," she turned back to Vastra, "How did THEY know then?"

"Hold on," Clara shook her head, "What secret is hidden there? Wherever there is. I mean…the Doctor's got to have loads of them, right?" she looked at the Judge, "What makes THIS one so bad?"

"We don't know," the Judge sighed.

"YOU don't know the Doctor's secrets?" Clara seemed truly startled at that.

"I said WE, Clara, as in the Doctor and I," the Judge remarked, not quite as irritated as she likely would be with all the questions, more concerned with the location blinking before them, "The Doctor does have many secrets, his name being a rather large one…"

"I know it," River cut in.

"What, you know his name?" Clara immediately switched her attention and shock to River, "He told you?"

"He had to," the Judge waved it off, "A future-River that he met created the future in revealing she knew his name to a past version of him. He HAD to tell her it so that, in her future-self could tell him it later and gain his trust. But that isn't the issue right now. This place…" she gestured at the coordinates, "We don't know WHICH secret relates to this place," she sighed, "Silence will fall when the question is asked…which question."

"You can't mean…" River's eyes widened as she gasped, turning to the coordinates and reading them even more carefully, but she was unfamiliar with the location, with the planet, she could guess though exactly which one it is, "Did he tell you?" she demanded of Vastra, a frantic note in her voice, "Did this DeMarco tell you what these coordinates were for!?"

Vastra nodded sadly, "Trenzalore."

"And what did he SAY?" the Judge inquired, "His exact words, Vastra, what were they?"

Vastra frowned at how tense the two women had become and flashed a hand over the projection once more, switching it to a close up of DeMarco's face, the man himself speaking his own words, "'The Doctor has a secret, you know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered.'"

The Judge stared at the projection, falling deaf to the world around her. She could vaguely hear Jenny mumbling something about locking doors, but she couldn't be bothered at the moment. That message…Vastra had gotten it wrong. She thought it was all about the secret, it wasn't…

It was about the grave.

And that was even worse, because the Doctor couldn't GO there, he couldn't! It was against the rules, it was against the laws of their people, he COULD NOT go there! The Doctor was many things, and he had broken many rules and laws in his time, she knew that, but this one…this one he wouldn't break. This one he wouldn't WANT to break. And he wouldn't, there was absolutely nothing in the world that could get him to do it either…except one thing, she realized suddenly.

He would only force himself to go there, a place so dangerous to HIM…if it was because _another_ was in danger instead.

"It's a trap!" the Judge gasped, standing up suddenly just as Jenny started to fade away before their very eyes, Vastra crying out to her, trying to hold her there.

"You're under attack," River jumped up from her seat, her eyes now locked on something over Vastra and the fading Jenny's shoulders, "You must wake up now, just wake up," she leaned over and slapped Vastra across the face, "Do it!"

The Judge grabbed the bottle of champagne and slammed it over Strax's head, shattering it, jolting him awake from the sudden 'attack' as well, she could see it now, they were starting to surround the three of them.

Pale and tall, in suits with top hats, blank faces, truly blank, the skin over the eyes was stretched so it didn't appear that there were eyes there. Their mouths, however, were open, filled with sharp teeth that let them hiss as they approached.

"Tell the Doctor," they chanted, "Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor."

"Tell him what?" Clara whispered to the Judge.

The Judge stiffened, having nearly forgotten that Clara was there, "Clara you have to wake up, now!" she told the girl, reaching out to pinch her arm, making Clara gasp but disappear as well.

"His friends are lost for evermore," a voice called behind her, the Judge spun around, seeing that DeMarco's face had been replaced by that of Dr. Simeon, "Unless he goes to Trenzalore."

"I can't tell him that," the Judge swallowed, "I can't, he'll GO there if I do."

She wasn't speaking to Simeon, but to River, because River did appear to understand who the Doctor was and what he was like, she would know that he would do it if his friends were in danger, damn the rules.

"Judge?"

She looked up, hearing Clara's voice, feeling a pressure on her shoulders as though someone were shaking her, trying to wake her.

"Judge wake up!"

The Judge looked at her hands, seeing them starting to fade, before River stepped up to her, "The Doctor can never go to Trenzalore," she agreed, moments before the Judge's eyes snapped open and she sat up with a gasp on the floor of Clara's room, Clara kneeling beside her, starting back at the sudden move.

The Judge let out a long breath and closed her eyes, shaking her head, a hand to her temple, "I hate soporifics," she muttered, swallowing hard, looking at Clara's door where she could faintly hear the Doctor downstairs, calling out to Angie and Artie in the middle of a game.

She had been lucky that she was a Time Lady. The soporific had taken more time to knock her out than it did Clara. They'd come to visit and found Mr. Maitland going frantic for someone to help watch the children as Clara didn't appear to be home. They'd offered to watch the children, but had gone up to check if Clara had been sucked into the wi-fi entirely instead of just her mind. She'd been asleep on the floor so the Doctor had picked her up to place her on the bed. She'd noticed the paper on the floor and picked it up only to realize too late that it was coated in a soporific. She'd quickly bid the Doctor out to watch the children while she stayed there to keep an eye on Clara…and promptly passed out on the floor only moments after he'd made it downstairs.

"What was all that?" Clara asked, breathing just a bit heavy herself.

"A trap," the Judge repeated, "One of the Doctor's enemies…he's trying to lure the Doctor into a trap."

"On…Trenzalore?" she guessed.

"Exactly," the Judge pushed herself up, "And he CAN'T go there," she turned and headed for the door, hurrying down the stairs with Clara calling out 'why' after her, but she ignored the girl for the moment, right now her husband came first.

And there he was, at the base of the stairs, stumbling around the sitting room with his hands outstretched and a blindfold over his eyes, "Am I getting warm?" it appeared he still thought the children were there, though he should have known the house was FAR too silent for that to be true, "Look, I'm pretty sure you have to tell me if I'm getting warm. I'm...I'm...I'm pretty sure that's in the rules."

"They can't tell you if they're not here," the Judge walked over and pulled the blindfold off his head, "They tricked you into Blind Man's Bluff didn't they?"

"Tricked?" he pouted.

"Um…what's going on?" Clara blinked, not entirely sure of it.

"Oh, um, Mr. Maitland went next door, so I said the Judge and I would look after the kids. They wanted to go to the cinema, but I said no, I said no, not until you wake up, I was very firm."

Clara nodded at that, "They yeah, they did trick you."

"Wha…" he began, only to blink and spin around, hurrying down the hall and back, peeking into rooms, "Where are they?"

"At the cinema."

"The little…Daleks!" the Doctor huffed, pouting once more.

"Yes," the Judge pointed at him, "They are and…and…and we should go get them right now. Yes. Let's go, leave, right now and go retrieve them. And then…um…we can have an adventure. Wherever you want to go."

The Doctor stared at her a long minute, his face slowly morphing into one of concern, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said quickly, too quickly, "What makes you think something's wrong?"

"Cos you're stuttering and you only do that when you're nervous," he nearly smiled recalling the last time she'd stuttered a bit, when she'd essentially asked to share his bed again, but the look on her face, the fear he could actually see in her eyes kept him from smiling, "And you're near rubbing a hole in your trousers," he pointed at her legs where she really was rubbing her legs as had become a nervous habit to do, "And you offered to let me pick any adventure I wanted, you never do that…"

"Well I'm…doesn't mean something's wrong," she defended, forcing herself to cross her arms instead of rub her legs, "Maybe I just…want to do something nice?"

"A kiss would always be welcome," he remarked, "An adventure is…more than nice," he frowned, "You're hiding something from me."

"No I'm not."

"_Don't lie to me Carah,_" he switched to Gallifreyan, "_We promised, no more lies. No more hiding anything. No more holding things in,_" he stepped over to her, taking her hands gently, "_Please…tell me what's wrong? What happened?_"

She bit the inside of her cheek, "_I can't tell you,_" she whispered, "_I can't. It's…I CAN'T._"

He looked down at how tightly she was returning the grip on her hands and looked at Clara, "Clara what happened?"

"Clara don't…"

"Someone's set a trap for you in Trenzalore," Clara blurted.

"Clara!"

"What?" the Doctor breathed, his eyebrows (what existed of them) shot into his hairline at that.

"I'm sorry," Clara apologized to the Judge, "But if we tell him, then he won't go."

"He'll try to go," the Judge shook her head, "Once he knows everything, he'll try."

"I'll try what?" the Doctor frowned, "Will someone please explain to me what is going on? Very confused Doctor here."

"The um…lizard woman, Vastra," Clara began.

"How do you know her?" the Doctor gaped, he and the Judge hadn't mentioned her or the others to her.

"I saw her," Clara shrugged, "In a dream trance thing that they worked out. Her and Jenny and Strax," she added so he'd know she was telling the truth.

"River was there too," the Judge offered.

"YOU were there?" the Doctor turned his shocked eyes on her.

"Accidently, apparently."

"Right, River Song," Clara nodded, "They um…there was this man and he knew these coordinates to Trenzalore," Clara continued, "He said um, something about a secret. But then there were these creatures, the Whisper Men?" she looked at the Judge, guessing that those were the men that had appeared, "And it was a trap and they might have got that Jenny girl and…"

"Clara!" the Judge snapped, not at how she was rambling but what she'd just revealed.

"They got Jenny?" the Doctor straightened at that, though the Judge could see his mind was already racing with everything else.

The Judge closed her eyes, "It seems so," she whispered.

The Doctor stumbled back, moving over to a small armchair and singing down onto it, staring at the coffee table before him, a blank look coming onto his face.

"Clara," the Judge turned to her, "Can you put on a cup of tea?"

Clara nodded and hurried to the kitchen, she'd actually just been making one before she'd gone upstairs to read the letter that Vastra had sent her. The kettle had whistled a short while ago and, testing it appeared it was still quite hot, it hadn't been THAT long that she'd been out it seemed.

The Judge walked over to the armchair, moving behind it to lean over the back, resting her hands on the Doctor's shoulders and squeezing them, moving over the back of it to press a kiss to the top of his hair. She should have stopped Clara's ramblings, she should have. Now that he knew that Jenny had been taken, he'd work out that it was likely Vastra and Strax had as well, he would never be able to forgive himself if he let any harm come to them due to him.

Even if it meant breaking the laws of time and going to Trenzalore.

She just had to hope she could stop him. Granted she'd had rather poor luck of that in the past, but there was a chance that she might be able to stop him this time. Vastra, Strax, and Jenny KNEW what they'd be getting into by helping him and being his friend, they knew the dangers that his enemies posed and they didn't turn him away. If something happened to them, it was their choice…it was something she had always tried to say when he lost a companion, they KNEW the danger they were getting into and they accepted that their lives might end as a result, unlikely they'd really die (or so they hoped) but they knew it was POSSIBLE.

"So who was she exactly?" Clara called from the kitchen, "The lady with the funny name and the space hair."

"An old...friend of mine," the Doctor mumbled, lost in thought.

The Judge frowned and moved before the armchair to see that there were tears gathering in his eyes, she could hear it in his voice as well.

"What, like an ex?" Clara frowned, "You never mentioned she was a Time Lady…"

"She's NOT a Time Lady," the Judge scoffed, "She's a mutated human. And she's not his ex."

"She's not," the Doctor reached out, still a bit lost in thought, but reaching out for her, for her hand, taking it and squeezing it, wanting to reassure her. He needed her to know that he had never betrayed her like that, never ever, SHE was his wife, his only wife, his only…well, his only love. He couldn't handle if she thought that on top of all this.

The Judge squeezed his hand back, "I know," she whispered to him, before glancing at Clara, "She…had aspirations to be," she admitted, "But she discovered shortly after that, that I was still alive and it would never happen."

"Complicated," Clara murmured, guessing it must be, for one woman to want to be with the Doctor and likely develop feelings for him before realizing he was married, and then for another to be aware that, if they hadn't been there, this other woman would have moved in.

"Very," the Judge agreed.

"What did the man say?" the Doctor asked after a moment, "You said that a man knew about Trenzalore? How? What did he say about it?"

"'The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave,'" Clara repeated, heading over with the tea, "It is discovered.'"

The Judge moved to sit on the edge of the armchair, the tears now more obvious in the Doctor's eyes, "Doctor…" she began.

"Sorry," he winced, closing his eyes, trying to shake the tears away, not wanting them to see him like that, so vulnerable and out of sorts. Well, the Judge had seem him like that often, on Gallifrey, when he'd return after a companion died, she always saw that and while he knew she'd want to offer comfort…he didn't want to do that to her again. He always appeared for a hug and then ran off when he felt better and this time…he just…he deserved to wallow in his own misery and fear for a moment longer.

But still, he couldn't keep the trembling out of his voice or how it broke, "And it was Trenzalore? Definitely Trenzalore?" he looked at the Judge for confirmation of that, she could only nod.

He swallowed hard and stood, hurrying out of the room without another word.

The Judge let out a long breath at that, "Give us a mo?" the Judge asked Clara, well not really ask, she was already halfway out of the room after him when she called that back to Clara, but Clara nodded regardless, setting the tea back down.

~8~

"We're not going," the Judge said as she slowly walked down the stairs of the TARDIS to the under-console where the Doctor was sitting on one of the panels at the base of it, "We are NOT going to Trenzalore."

The Doctor looked up at her as she approached, "We HAVE to."

"We can't," she shook her head, moving to sit beside him, "Theta, it's against the laws, the code of our people…"

"And it's against MY code to leave my friends at the hand of my enemies," he countered.

"Like with the little girl in the astronaut suit?" she gave him a pointed look, reminding him of how he'd told her he'd run off to have adventures instead of gone to look for her, for someone that was clearly so important to the Silence that they went out of their way to raise her.

"She wasn't my friend."

"She was a child though."

He winced even more at that, "Carah…"

"No, Theta, you listen to me. WE," she gestured between them, "Are NOT going to Trenzalore. It is forbidden! You CAN'T visit your own grave!"

"I wouldn't be visiting, I'd be breaking in…"

"This is not the time for jokes!" she nearly snapped, only to look away a moment later.

The Doctor frowned slightly t that, leaning forward to try and look at her face but she kept it away from him, "Carah…" he whispered, reaching out to touch her cheek, to guide her face back towards him, his eyes widening slightly when he saw tears in HER eyes this time, "It's more than just the law, isn't it?" he murmured, searching her eyes, "Why are you so adamant about not going?"

She held his gaze a long while, not wanting to say, not wanting to make this about her when it was so much more dangerous for him.

"Please, tell me," he breathed.

She swallowed, "I don't want to see it," she admitted softly, "I don't want to see your grave, I never wanted to know it even existed. That was always my worst nightmare on Gallifrey," she continued, "That one day I'd get word that the Doctor's grave appeared, and it would mean that…that you died, that you really would die and not on Gallifrey but somewhere else. Probably doing something daft," she added, trying to joke but it really had been a serious concern of hers, "I don't want to go there and see it and know that…that you really will die one day."

"You…you've known I will though," he reminded her, "The moment I regenerated into this incarnation, you knew, eventually, I would…"

"Yes but in a thousand years or so," she cut in, "Seeing that grave would be…it would be NOW. I can hope that something will change in a thousand years, that…that we find some way to save you. That grave would just be proof that we fail."

He tugged her closer, pressing a kiss to her forehead, and winding his arms around her, hugging her tight, "If we fail…we fail," he told her, his voice catching though, "But we won't fail NOW. THIS will NOT be the day I die. We will have more time together Carah, I promise you this, we will have more time."

"We still can't go though," she murmured after a moment, "It's against the laws."

He gave a soft chuckle, feeling slightly…better about Trenzalore, or about going to it now. The man that Clara and the Judge had spoken of, he'd mentioned a grave, NOT the actual death, this would be the aftereffect, not what led up to it. This had actually reminded him of that, he was not about to walk to his death, he was just going to visit his grave.

He WOULD have more time with his wife, he swore it, he would.

"When have I ever been one to adhere to them?" he joked, nudging her a bit, leaning back to smile down at her.

"I wish you had been," she muttered.

"Really?" he raised an eyebrow at that, starting to smile more.

She let out a sigh, "No," she could concede to that, "You…DO make things interesting."

"Have to keep you on your toes somehow, don't I?" he laughed.

They fell quiet a moment, hearing footsteps on the stairs and looked over to see Clara peeking down from the upper level, "Ok now?" she hesitated, not wanting to pry or interrupt but wanting to help.

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded, waving her closer.

"So…Trenzalore, it's a trap right. I get that. But what exactly IS it?" she crossed her arms as she stood before the Time Lords.

"It's a planet," the Doctor stated, "Dorium mentioned it, a few others," he gently rubbed the Judge's back once more before he stood, pulling the sonic out of his pocket and a wire down from above him and flashing it over the piece, "Always suspected what it was, never wanted to find out myself. But it seems we were right in our suspicions," he gave the Judge a sad look, before shaking his head and holding out a hand to her. The Judge stood and he kissed the back of her hand before gently sticking her with the wire he'd worked on.

"What are you doing?" Clara winced, that seemed painful but the Judge hardly flinched.

"We both saw the space-time coordinates," the Judge explained, "But you probably didn't get a good enough look, not knowing what it was or why it was important. I remember them exactly so we're linking me up to the telepathic circuits so that it can be downloaded in. We can't risk ending up in the wrong place or missing it because there's only two of us piloting."

"So it's like sat-nav?" Clara guessed.

"A crude version, but I suppose."

"Then what secret's hidden on Trenzalore? Trenzalore isn't the secret, it's where the secret's hidden," she murmured, working it out, "Right?"

"Close," the Doctor mumbled, "It's not really a secret that's hidden there, it's a secret I'm meant to BRING there. You see, Clara, when you are a time traveler, there is _one_ place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself."

"It's against numerous laws to go there," the Judge reminded the Doctor, pulling the wire out of her hand, giving him a pointed look but the next look they shared between them was different, they both knew they were going there no matter what. SHE was not at all pleased with it, she didn't like this, breaking the laws, she didn't want to let him go. But he WOULD go, no matter what, no matter if she told him to take her to Torchwood and never come back if he was going to go, he'd still go. Because people he felt indebted to were in danger because of him and he couldn't turn his back on them.

He wouldn't be the man she loved if he turned his back on them either.

"And where aren't you allowed to go?" Clara shook her head, "Trenzalore? Is that like an off-limits planet for Time Lords?"

"Not exactly…" the Doctor hesitated to say it, not wanting to really blurt it out loud what Trenzalore meant.

"It's our graves, Clara, we're not to visit our own graves," the Judge put it out there instead, knowing it was about both of them, it affected both of them to realize that the Doctor DID have a grave out there.

And it was alarming to the both of them as well, because so many people had referenced it as the DOCTOR's grave…which left the question, where was HER grave? Had she been there when he died? Had she died with him but been forgotten? How could she have not been there? If she wasn't then where was her grave now?

"Trenzalore is where I'm buried," the Doctor nodded, taking the Judge's hand and leading the two women up to the main-console, "With time travel, Clara, you can actually end up visiting your own grave…" he couldn't help but think of Rory and Amy, how they had visited and died the same day, he was truly hoping that this wouldn't be the same thing.

"But…if it's against the laws, why did you put it in the sat-nav?" Clara was starting to get a sinking feeling about all this.

"I have to save Vastra and Strax," the Doctor told her, looking at both women, needing them to understand that. No, he didn't want to go, if he could he'd run away and never look back…but there was more at stake than just his fear, lives of friends, friends he owed so much to, were at stake as well, "Jenny too, if it's still possible. They helped the Judge and I during a dark time. They never questioned me, never judged me, they were just...kind. I owe them. I have a duty."

"I owe them as well," the Judge had to admit, "They helped the both of us."

"Then I'm coming with you," Clara nodded, determined, "How can we save them?"

"Apparently...by breaking into my own tomb!" the Doctor turned to the console and threw a lever quickly, only succeeding in nearly sending them flying into the railings as the TARDIS revolted against the destination, shaking, jerking, groaning, all manner of noises and grindings to keep them from moving against the controls that were thrown.

"What's that?" Clara gasped, her eyes wide, not able to recall a time where the TARDIS did this on its own without an enemy firing at it.

"The TARDIS agrees with me," the Judge told her, shouting above the noise, "It's against the laws and this time SHE actually wants to follow them."

"I'm about to cross my own time line in the biggest way possible," the Doctor panted, launching himself at the console to try and wrestle control back, "The TARDIS doesn't like it."

"I think that may be the biggest understatement you've ever made Doctor," the Judge called, pushing off the side controls she'd been thrown against to try and help him at the main-console, "Clara I would assume the position!"

Clara hurried to duck down at the edge of the side-controls, using one hand to brace and balance herself against it, watching as the Time Lords really and truly struggled to try and get the TARDIS to go to Trenzalore, wincing each time sparks and flames shot up to try and dissuade them.

"You alright?!" Clara cried when a rather large flash of light and explosion had the two aliens thrown back against the rails once more. They were silent though, not answering, as the room began to calm, the lights turning off, the humming softening, leaving them all in darkness, only the small fires on the console creating light till they eventually died down as well, "Now what?"

"We can't land," the Judge remarked, flicking a useless switch, testing some others, "Everything's shut down except the life support and anti-gravs."

"We can't land…" Clara repeated, not wanting to ask a stupid question, "So we ARE here then?"

"We have to be," the Doctor mumbled, slapping the monitor, wanting a visual, before snapping his fingers and hurrying to the main doors, pulling them open and looking out, falling silent as the two women joined him on either side, "So that's where I end up."

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek as she looked at the planet below. It looked sick, sick and dying, which did make sense given what she knew of Trenzalore and the Doctor's apparent death. It was the result of an epic battle, and, given the state of the planet, it was a battle that raged for centuries. She could almost see Gallifrey in it, in how their own planet had probably looked like this from above near the end of the war, dead and dying and sick and devastated. Ash instead of clouds, smoke instead of air, fires instead of trees, lava instead of rivers, just…stripped of everything with nothing but death left.

"Always thought maybe I'd retire," the Doctor continued, "Take up watercolors, or bee-keeping, or something. Apparently not."

"I'd stay away from the bees given what happened the last time you got involved with bee-related issues," the Judge tried to lighten the mood.

But the Doctor was too lost in thought and sorrow to hear it.

This was certainly not a place that anyone would think the Doctor, of all people, would end up. SHE had always hoped, if the day ever came where he truly passed on, it would be on Gallifrey, with family around. His companions refused to believe he'd ever die, firmly thinking he'd outlive them all to the end of time. A planet like this, so dead and lifeless was not a place that the energetic and heroic Doctor should be.

"How do we get down there if we can't land?" Clara inquired reasonably, "Jump?"

"Clara…" the Judge gave her a look for that one, "What do you really think would happen to anyone that tried to jump from space onto a planet? Realistically?"

Clara winced at that, "Right," they'd either drift off or end up burning to death in the atmosphere. BAD question to ask.

"We won't jump," the Doctor agreed, nodding to himself as though he'd come to a decision on how to get there, "You said the TARDIS turned off practically everything but the anti-gravs right?" he asked the Judge.

"Yes…" she said slowly, starting to dread what might be going on in his mind, his thoughts were racing so quickly she couldn't keep up with just what plan he was going to stick with.

He nodded, "Guess what I'm turning off?"

He didn't even give them a second to answer before he shut the doors and flicked his sonic on. The three of them barely had time to grab the railings beside them as the TARDIS dropped right out of the sky, the gravitational pull of the planet sucking them down even faster.

The room shook terribly, violently, throwing them to the ground in a harsh heap as the box crashed right onto the surface, leaving them all groaning and shifting to try and get up without bruising themselves even more. The Doctor lightly tugged the Judge up, Clara already halfway on her feet, and gave her a quick look to make sure she was ok.

"A bit more warning next time, dear, would be much appreciated," she gave him a grousing look, making him smile sheepishly and nod, crossing his hearts in a silent promise.

He looked at the door a moment before pushing it open, wincing as he saw that the glass on the windows of the doors had been cracked and broken, not quite shattered, but thoroughly cracked.

The Judge's eyes, however, were on the scenery beyond the TARDIS doors. The planet had looked worse from above she could admit, it wasn't quite AS bad on the surface. It wasn't all destruction, but there was clear evidence of it. Especially considering the fact that they'd appeared in a graveyard, a large one. It seemed like nearly every single person that had ever been on the planet was buried there or had to be throughout the expanse of it, and they likely were. The graves were packed so tightly together, all of different styles and sizes, the names of their owners barely visible in the dark of night that surrounded them, harder to see with time and age and the fog rolling throughout the ground. There was a feel of rain in the air, made worse by the flashes of lightning and the sound of thunder that surrounded them, but it had yet to fall just yet.

"You ok?" Clara whispered to them, seeming to think ill of speaking much louder in such a place, "Visiting your own grave…anyone would be scared."

"Scared isn't all there is to it Clara," the Judge murmured, "There's a reason why it's a LAW not to come to a place like this."

"I'm a time traveler," the Doctor reminded her, "I've probably time-travelled more than anyone else."

"Ok…what does that have to do with it though?" Clara frowned.

"Travelling in time, changing anything, even by the smallest amount, has consequences," the Judge answered as they stepped out of the TARDIS more, shutting the door behind them, "Ripple effects, sometimes those come to fruition upon the death of the traveler."

"Right," Clara nodded, she hadn't understood a word of that, but that was ok, she was sure she'd either work it out or it would be explained more later. She just…she didn't want to ask too many questions at the moment, distract them, not with something as serious as this, "Wasn't really expecting actual gravestones, or so many of them…" and she hadn't, the Doctor's grave was just 1 person, why were there more?

"It's a battlefield graveyard," the Doctor reasoned, "My final battle."

Clara opened her mouth to ask 'YOU die in a battle?' but realized that it would be yet another obvious question, he wouldn't have said it if he didn't think he'd died that way, so instead she moved on to, "Why are some of them bigger?"

"Why do some people have more medals on their army uniforms?" the Judge countered, "They're higher in rank."

Clara nodded, getting that the size was their version of honoring rank even in death, "So, if this was a battle about you, Doctor, would that mean yours is…"

She trailed off, her eyes wide, staring a head as they stepped into the shadow of something…an enormous TARDIS sitting on a hill. Truly enormous bigger than some skyscrapers she was sure, and looming ominously before them. It was fitting then, that the largest monument would be for the Doctor and be a TARDIS.

"This isn't good, Doctor," the Judge frowned at that, speaking quietly, "That's the TARDIS."

"I can see that," Clara remarked, thinking that, for once, the Judge had stated the obvious.

"Not like that Clara," the Judge shook her head.

"When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the dimension dams start breaking down," the Doctor elaborated, "They used to call it a size leak, all the bigger-on-the-inside starts leaking to the outside. It grows."

"So if I say, 'that's the TARDIS' I mean that it is literally the TARDIS, and it's leaking. It's breaking down and that is not a good thing at all."

The Doctor took a deep breath and let it out, "What else would they bury me in?" he mumbled to himself, before shaking his head and starting on again, Clara after him while the Judge took up the rear, not trusting that if this was a trap that Clara might be in danger as well.

"Judge?" a voice called behind her, however, and she stopped short.

"Please tell me you didn't…" she shook her head, turning to see River standing there beside a gravestone with her name on it, dressed just as she was in the dreamscape, "You did."

"As much as you hate to think it, I DO have some Time Lord in me," River reminded her, knowing there was no point to remind the woman that the others couldn't see or hear her, she knew, she'd know.

"And you thought that gave you a right to form a mental link with me?" the Judge crossed her arms, glaring at River, "Really? ME? You couldn't have chosen Clara?"

"I didn't CHOOSE you," River rolled her eyes, "It's a result of the conference call being cut off like it was. There was no body for the Whisper Men to track down for me, I'm still there, right now, and because you were the last one to leave…"

"The line remained open between us," the Judge rubbed her head, "Wonderful."

Because the thing she really needed as her husband possibly faced his eminent doom was having the woman that would have killed to be his mistress latched onto her mind.

"Judge?" the Doctor called, making the Judge look back in the direction he'd gone to see him heading back to her, "Who are you talking to?" he frowned, looking around, not seeing anyone, and focusing on her, "We need to get..."

"There's something wrong here," the Judge cut in, "Look," she pointed to where River was standing, more so the gravestone than River.

The Doctor frowned at that, "What's that doing here?" he walked towards it, seeing 'River Song' carved into it, "This isn't where she died…"

"Died?" Clara blinked as she joined them, "What, do you mean she's dead?"

"She died a long while ago," the Judge told her.

"But then how did we see her?" Clara shook her head.

"Long story," the Doctor tried to brush it off, starting to sonic the stone, knowing that there had to be something different, because for the gravestone of RIVER to be there…it wasn't meant to. It was out of place. Which one of these things didn't belong? The stone.

"But we saw her, she was real, she was th…" Clara cut off suddenly, hearing a hissing noise echo from behind her. She tensed and looked over her shoulder to see the creatures from the dreamworld stepping out of the shadows, "Look out!" she jumped back, closer to the Time Lords as the creatures, the Whisper Men, swarmed around them.

The Doctor lifted the sonic, focusing on the Whisper men instead, trying to use it to keep them back.

"Doctor, it's a screwdriver," the Judge shouted at him, crouching down to try and examine the stone herself, manually, because there HAD to be a reason it was there, that River's name was on it, it had to be a clue, "Not a weapon!"

"This man must fall as all men must," the Whisper Men chorused as they began to extend their arms and point at the Doctor, "The fate of all is always dust."

"If it's not my gravestone, then what is it?" River asked the Judge.

"We know, River," the Judge grumbled, "It's a clue or a…"

"False grave!"

"I was going to say key," she muttered, "Doctor open the grave!"

"What?" the Doctor spun to her, completely confused.

"It's got to be a key of some sort, or a lock, open it!"

"What, like a secret entrance?" Clara backed up more, her eyes on the Whisper Men as the Doctor had turned his back on them.

The Doctor's eyes widened as he tapped the side of his head with the sonic, "Yes, of course, makes sense," he flashed the sonic on a different setting and the ground gave way beneath them, sending them falling through the secret entrance and into what appeared to be a tunnel carved out below it.

"The man who lies will lie no more," the Whisper Men surrounded the tomb's entrance, "When this man lies at Trenzalore…"

The Judge reached out and grabbed the sonic, flashing it up, but nothing happened, "Oh come on!" she bashed it on her hand, "Just close!"

The Doctor would have laughed at that, how she rarely ever got the sonic to work, had it not been for the enemy encroaching upon them. He took the sonic back and flashed it up, resealing the tomb.

"And now we're in darkness," the Judge sighed.

The Doctor flicked the sonic on again, using it as a light till he grinned, spotting a torch on the wall and flicked it, sparking the end and igniting it. He flashed it around, behind them and before, deciding to head onwards, "This way."

The Judge ushered Clara to go on, in between her and the Doctor as he led the way, the light of the torch the only thing they had.

"Where are we?" Clara fingered a root that was growing out of the wall as they passed.

"I would say tunnels," the Judge remarked, "But given it's a graveyard, probably catacombs."

"I hate catacombs," River's voice echoed behind the Judge but she ignored the woman.

"So…HOW did we meet River if she's dead?" Clara wondered.

"Well, you know how it is when you lose someone," the Doctor shrugged, "She helped save my life and it was only right I try to save hers. I sort of plugged her consciousness into a virtual world so she could live out the rest of her life in safety."

"Didn't even say goodbye," River sighed in the Judge's ear, "He doesn't like endings."

The Judge was suddenly yanked back by the arm and spun around, for one brief moment thinking that it was River despite knowing that she was merely a vision in her head, and gasped when she saw it was a Whisper Man instead, "Doctor!"

The Doctor was at her side in an instant, swiping the torch at the Whisper Man, doing little to damage it, the torch just whizzing through it, but it was enough for him to work out what to do. He swiped again, but at the Whisper Man's wrist, making the torch pass through it and release the Judge. He tugged her back and pushed her ahead of him, towards Clara, "Run, run!"

They bolted down the tunnels, running wherever they could, not sure where the tunnels would even lead. But they spotted a door at the end, the Doctor urging them to enter the room beyond, slamming it behind them and sonicing the lock shut. He doubted it would do much with the Whisper Men seeming to be vapors in a way, able to allow things to pass through them, they'd likely pass through the door easily. They had to hurry.

"Doctor, look," the Judge panted, pointing ahead, behind him.

He spun around to see that the walls were those of the TARDIS, they'd reached it! They were probably at the base of it, but at least they were there, "Come on!" he tossed the torch aside, light reflecting from the walls, allowing them to see more than they could with the torch and it would just get in the way. He led them over to the stairs, nearly running up them with the girls following, "Bit of a climb," he warned, "Think I remember the way."

"We're going to climb up that whole thing?" Clara called behind them as they ran up stair after stair, "It has to be over 100 floors by now!"

"The bigger-on-the-inside bleeds outward Clara," the Judge answered, "It'll look bigger, but on the inside it gets smaller."

"Yes, see!" the Doctor grinned when, after two more stairs, they reached a landing, one that Clara recognized as the one for the underconsole. It hadn't taken much to get there, a rather short time, so the rest of the journey was likely the same, but still…it was odd.

Very odd, especially to Clara, who tried to follow the Time Lords on but ended up stumbling into the wall.

"Clara?" the Doctor heard the thump of her body and turned around.

"Clara, what is it?" the Judge asked, moving over to her as she half-sagged against the wall now.

"It's ok. The dimensioning forces this deep in the TARDIS, they can make you a bit giddy."

"I know," Clara nodded, her head feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds, "I know…" she felt the Judge try to tug her on and yanked her hand back, startled now, "How do I know? How do I know that?!"

"Clara, it's ok," the Doctor held his hands up in a calming gesture.

"You'll be just fine…" the Judge added, "We need to get you higher and the forces will stabilize…"

Clara, however, shook her head frantically, "Have we…have we done this before?" she winced, pressing a hand to her head, recalling vague memories, flashes of people she'd never met, hearing snips of a conversation she was sure she'd never had, "We have!" oh she felt ill now, her head was swimming, "We have done this before, climbing through a wrecked TARDIS," her head snapped up to stare at the Time Lords accusingly, "You said things, things I'm not supposed to remember."

"We can't do this now," the Doctor shook his head, "The TARDIS is a ruin, the telepathic circuits are awakening memories you shouldn't even have."

"Clara…" the Judge reached out for her as Clara looked down, hearing her mumbling about the Dalek Asylum, "Clara," about Victorian London, "Clara!"

Clara's gaze returned to them, tears in her eyes, "What did you mean, you keep meeting me? You said I died! How could I die?"

"That's not a conversation you should even remember..." the Doctor repeated.

"What do you mean I died?!"

"The Whisper Men," the Judge reached out and grabbed Clara's arm, hearing the familiar hissing noise that they'd come to associate with the men, moments before their voices echoed up to them.

"The girl who died he tried to save," the words drifted over, "She'll die again inside his grave."

The Doctor moved over to a mesh of wiring in the walls and peered through them, down below, "They're here," he warned, turning to the girls and grabbing the Judge's hand, pushing Clara on ahead of them, "Run! Run!"

The Whisper Men were closing in, but not trying to stop them as he was sure they were capable, and now he was starting to feel very much like they were trying to herd them somewhere.

And he was very much sure that wherever the Men were pushing them…it wasn't anywhere good.

A/N: I've been wanting to put a TL in the conference call for a while and I could sort of see the Judge picking up the paper and then getting sucked it :) I also wanted to explore her and River ending up being connected as well, given who they both are/want to be to the Doctor :) Hope you liked it :)

Just a small note to those who read the last chapter within a few hours of me posting it, the co-author changed their name from Iris Melody Star to Evanette Lennox on quotev :( I have also put up another post about the plagiarism on my tumblr, a photoset where I look at only the original parts of my story that were copied (even underlined the parts so it's more obvious) as more proof that the plagiarism DID actually happen, as the co-author claimed the only parts that were the same were show-dialogue. The fact that I was able to find original parts from my story in the other user's stories (and I mean even original scenes) should be proof enough of plagiarism as it is :(

Some notes on reviews...

I wish you and your girlfriend a Happy Halloween! Proffy would be very flattered she wants to dress up as her :) And thank you :)

I hope your new editing system works well :) I try to catch as much as I can but things always sneak through no matter how many times I read lol :)

That's cool, I love reading every length review :) I'm really glad that the updates brighten your day up a little ^-^ That really means a lot to me to hear :) And I'm very happy that you like the TLs in different ways and see them as different people, I really try to make them all unique to each other and it means so much to know I'm managing it so far. It's definitely hard dealing with the plagiarism, some I can move past faster than others. I think the last two instances were harder because the first seemed to off a very un-genuine apology that was so vague no one would really know what they were talking about and it just felt like they were saying my work was good enough to copy but not good enough for people to actually know where it came from :( And the second with the co-author denying the plagiarism and becoming very hostile (and worrying my readers about attacks against me) is upsetting. It made me so paranoid that 'WAS it plagiarism' that I spent hours going through the screencaps I had and looking at only the original parts for more proof, and, being blocked, I can't even send the link to the tumblr post to that co-author as proof :( I almost did delete everything after the first few times, but some very wise people reminded me that if I took them down, then there would be no proof that my stories had been up first and the more it happened and the more people stood behind me it helped me keep going and keep it up. The last two just brought up some really bad memories and really upset me that someone stole something, clearly stole it, and it's being denied. It makes me fearful that the truth will never come about about that one :( You're very right though, it would be letting my readers down to stop writing and I'm trying very hard not to stop DW, your words do mean very much to me and did brighten my day. I have a lot to think about in the next few days, I've promised to know what I plan to do about DW by the end of this story so I have just about a week to come to terms with what I want to do. Thank you though, your message meant a lot to me :')

Yup, it happened again :( Worse yet, their co-author vehemently denied the plagiarism, despite proof and me pointing out what to look at, claiming the ONLY parts that were the same were the dialogue from the show :( So I've made a tumblr post of only the ORIGINAL parts of my work that appeared in the other stories. And the fact that the post even exists at all is proof that plagiarism happened. Thank you for keeping an eye out though, I really appreciate it :)

I'm excited for the OUAT and Steve story too, not sure if I'll be doing Rory just yet, I'm trying to work out how I feel about DW and continuing fanfictions in it at the moment :(


	28. The Name of the Doctor - Part 2

The Name of the Doctor - Part 2

'_Please tell me that's not Dr. Simeon,_' the Doctor whispered in the Judge's mind as they drew nearer the top of the stairs, able to hear someone speaking only a short distance away, not wanting to reveal themselves.

"…require a key," the man was saying, "The key is a word. And the word...is the Doctor's name."

The Doctor paused only two steps from the entrance to the upper level that Simeon and, they could see now, Vastra and the others were standing on, hearing those words. So that was the secret that would take him to his grave, the doors wouldn't open without his name as the code word.

'_I don't think it's him any longer,_' the Judge shook her head, reaching out to take his hand, '_His face appeared in the dreamscape, but you said he died. It can't really be him, can it?_'

'_No,_' he agreed, and there was only one entity he could think of that would assume Simeon's form, the Great Intelligence, the very same that he had bested in Victorian London.

He looked over at the Judge a moment longer, tugging her closer to kiss her temple before he led them out and into the open, before two doors that would lead to the console room they knew.

"Here I am," the Doctor released the Judge's hand, holding his arms out wide as he spun around, allowing himself to get a better look at who was there. Strax, Vastra, and Jenny were lined up before Simeon, the Whisper Men standing stationary in a circle around them, parting only so that he, the Judge, and Clara could enter, "Late to my own funeral."

"More like early," Judge mumbled, in THEIR timeline, this hadn't happened yet, he couldn't be late in that sense.

"Glad to see you could make it, Jenny," he glanced over at the woman, asking her silently if she was truly alright to which she sent him a small nod, standing close to Vastra, the lizard woman not seeming at all like she was about to let Jenny even an arm's length away from her any time soon.

Simeon stepped forward, his hands behind his back, his face as long and grim as they recalled from their last encounter with him, his eyes trained intently on the Doctor, "Open the door, Doctor. Speak, and open your tomb."

"No," the Doctor lifted his chin in defiance.

"Because you know what's in there?"

"Because what's in there is what you are after," the Judge cut in, "Why on earth would we open the doors?"

"Oh yes," Simeon turned his gaze to her, only his head shifting to observe her, "The missus," his lips pulled into a thin smile, "You know his name as well."

"Neither of us are going to say it."

"We will not open those doors," the Doctor agreed, stepping closer to his wife, not happy with how Simeon had turned to focus on her instead, if one of them was going to be harmed in the quest to open the door, he was NOT going to let it be her. He'd hurt her enough with just his own actions, he was not going to let her be harmed just because she knew his name as well.

"The key is a word lost to time," Simeon ignored them both, though he did turn his gaze towards the Doctor once more, "A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and known to you," he smirked at the two of them, "The answer to a question!"

The Judge pursed her lips at that, for someone called 'the Great Intelligence' he was rather redundant. They were well aware that the key to opening the TARDIS was the Doctor's name. The answer to the question he'd just asked, he didn't need to repeat that fact over and over. Perhaps he was channeling a bit of Simeon's actual humanity then, he was sounding more like a human that didn't understand an answer and felt the need to repeatedly ask the same question than an intelligent, sentient being that should know better.

"We will NOT open my tomb," the Doctor declared.

"Doctor, what is your name?" Simeon ignored him, yet again, though this time the Doctor merely remained silent instead.

Simeon narrowed his eyes and reached out suddenly, grabbing the Doctor's cheeks in his one hand, squeezing them so the man would open his mouth. The Doctor reached up and yanked Simeon's hand down by the wrist, seeming on the verge of spitting on him for a moment. Simeon let out a noise of indignation and turned to walk around the Doctor, keeping his eye on the man, the Doctor doing the same though he also pulled the Judge with him, shifting her so that she was constantly behind him and out of reach of Simeon. The man may have gotten his paws on his face, but he was not about to let him touch his wife.

Simeon held the Doctor's gaze a second longer before he turned his back on the Doctor, facing the line of Vastra, Strax, Jenny, and Clara, and lifted his chin to the Whisper Men around them, "The Doctor's friends. Stop their hearts!"

The Whisper Men hissed and half-floated forward towards the line of humans and aliens, adhering to Simeon's orders, their arms lifting as though they were intending to literally reach into their chests and grip their beating hearts. The Judge's head snapped towards Clara though, of all four of them, Clara was the one with the least amount of military training or fighting experience. She could hear Strax calling out strategies, ones that Vastra and Jenny would understand but Clara…she truly looked lost and frightened.

"Stop this!" the Doctor turned to Simeon, a dark glare on his face at his friends being threatened once more, "Leave them alone."

"Your name, Doctor," Simeon reminded him, utterly unperturbed with the chaos around him, with the Doctor's anger directed at him, knowing that THIS was likely the only way to get the man to agree. Oh there was his wife, his darling little wife that he could target, but the Time Lord was defending her, protecting her with his entire body and there would be no way to get a Whisper Man at her without the Doctor getting involved, "Answer me!"

"Judge!" Clara screamed as she stumbled back, falling to the ground as she tried to avoid a Whisper Man's lunge for her. Strax was at her side though, a pipe in hand, swinging it at the Whisper Man, but much like the Doctor had discovered with the torch in the catacombs, it passed right through the Whisper Man as though it were made of vapor.

"Doctor who?" Simeon called out as a Whisper Man attacked Strax instead, truly reaching into the potato's chest, causing Strax to cry out in terrible pain, targeting his heart.

"Stop it!" the Judge gripped the Doctor's hand tightly, speaking more to Simeon, looking at him as Clara scrambled and scuttled back towards them.

'_Don't you dare tell them,_' she warned in the Doctor's mind, his name was FAR too big a thing to reveal just for this.

It wasn't quite AS big a secret on Gallifrey, people did know your names, however once you took a title or another name, it became something that only those who knew you your entire lives knew. Your parents, your closest friends, your spouse (and children if you wished it). It became a sign of truly KNOWING someone to know their name, of having that connection, a lasting and lifelong connection to them. Off-world it was forbidden, because Time Lords didn't often leave the planet, they weren't expected to form that sort of connection with a non-Time Lord, it wasn't meant to happen. To reveal it now would be a desecration of everything that it meant to share your name with someone else.

River Song was really the only exception she could think of for those that actually knew the Doctor's name, and it was because the woman had created a paradox. She NEEDED to know the Doctor's name to be able to get him to trust her and not fight her so that he'd live past the Library. And, in a way, River HAD and would be in their lives for a good long while. The Doctor had known her since she was literally a baby to her death, so it was a small loophole in that.

But this? THIS could not be a way to reveal his name.

"Doctor who?" Simeon repeated.

"Leave him alone," the Doctor tensed as Strax shouted out in pain, all of them were falling to the ground, all of his friends before him being apprehended by the Whisper Men, being tortured by them before his very eyes, "Let them be!"

"Doctor who?"

"Please!"

And then the Judge heard River's voice call out, "THETA!" above the fray.

She snapped her head to the side to see River walking over, a satisfied smile on her face as the doors behind them creaked and groaned as they opened, signaling Simeon to give the halt command to the Whisper Men attack. But the Judge was NOT at all wearing a satisfied smile, more of a dark glare directed right at the empty air that only she could see River standing in.

'What are you DOING?!' she mouthed at River.

River let out a long breath, "The TARDIS can still hear me," she remarked, giving the Judge a pointed look, reminding her that no one else but her appeared able to do so either, "Lucky thing, since you two are being so useless!"

The Judge's jaw tensed at that, it wasn't that the TARDIS could hear River, it was that River was using her connection to HER mind to project to the TARDIS. The TARDIS could hear her because SHE could hear River. River truly was displaying how truly NON-Time Lord she was in doing this. It wasn't that they couldn't speak the name aloud, River had proved just then that the psychic connection would have been enough, it was why she had been careful not to even THINK of the Doctor's name. Either of them could have thought it, called it to the TARDIS in their minds and opened the door.

But that was the point!

The doors were NOT meant to be opened! They hadn't been lying when they said that it was dangerous to die as a time traveler. What lied beyond those doors was deadly to the Doctor, dangerous to everyone else, potentially life-ending to the Universe…and River bloody Song had just opened them to the Doctor's enemy! It was exactly what Simeon wanted, to get inside, that was all the more reason NOT to let him! It was exactly the reason they were refusing to say or think the Doctor's name even under this duress…

And River had caved.

'What happens next is on YOUR head,' the Judge nearly spat at River's image, mouthing the words clearly, making the River-image frown.

"Why did you open the door, sir?" Strax tried to ask once he'd gotten his breath back, though it came out far more wheezy than the Sontaran would ever admit to, "I had them on the run!"

"I didn't do it," the Doctor frowned, staring at the doors with wide eyes, "Did you?" he looked at the Judge who snapped her attention away from River and back to him, shaking her head, "We didn't say my name," he murmured, trying to work out HOW that could be possible then.

"Clara…" the Judge moved to the girl that was still on the ground only a foot away from the Doctor's feet, panting and staring with wide eyes at the Whisper Men as they retreated, "Are you alright?" she moved to help the woman up.

"Um…I think so," Clara whispered.

"Good scuttling," the Judge offered weakly, not quite sure what to say to all this. She would have wanted to say that the girl was stupid to come with them knowing that even THEY thought it was too dangerous for even THEM to be there. But she hadn't exactly protested or insisted Clara leave, she'd been too focused on that Doctor at that moment. She could at least admit that the fact Clara had managed NOT to get attacked, even if Strax had jumped in to defend her, was a good point to Clara. She was getting quicker.

"Thanks," Clara gave an equally weak smile.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor called, giving all of them a regretful look, not at all happy that they'd been attacked because of him, which reminded him…he turned to face Simeon, his features hardening, "Now then, Dr. Simeon. Or Mr. G. Intelligence, whatever I call you...do you know what's in there?" he pointed a violent finger at the doors.

"For me, peace at last," Simeon answered casually, not quite a resigned note to his voice but more an unnatural awareness and understanding, "For you, pain everlasting. Won't you invite us in?" he moved back a few steps, clearly intending the Doctor to be the one to lead the way, to be the one to LET them in, to bring them, by the hand so to speak, to his own doom.

The Doctor shot him a glare, the Judge stepping to his side and touching his arm, pulling his attention away. She shook her head slightly, half-begging him not to do it, to find some way out of this. Both of them knew what was waiting for him inside, the paradox alone that would be created just from him setting a foot inside would be crippling…

But the Doctor glanced back at the four others, the four that had nearly died because they couldn't say his name. He couldn't let harm befall them again. He leaned in and kissed her forehead, resting his head to hers a moment, before taking a deep breath and stepping away from her, towards the doors that he pushed open with a bit of effort, and stepped in, leading them into the main console room of the TARDIS, up the steps to the controls.

Only the controls weren't there any longer, not the main-controls at least. The sight that was revealed to the small mismatched group that made their way to the upper-console area took their breath away. The room itself, the walls, were overrun with vines and leaves, holes and cracks were abundant, growing out of the side-controls as well, everything just torn apart and dark and disused. The cloister bell was tolling faintly in the distance. But what was truly captivating, was what stood in place of the console.

It was a wide beam of stark white light, more like tendrils and strands of it, all weaving and rotating around each other it was nearly a column of light branching down from the top of the rotor to the base of where the console would be.

What made the Judge's breath catch, however, was a different strand of light, one that made her feel…off, tingling, slightly ill really. Near the very top of the beam of light, was what appeared to be a ring of light, the faintest red color with a hint of burnt orange to it. It was swirling and circling the top of the beam, weaving in and out of the tendrils, a thick ring of color. A single tendril of it followed the rest of the beam, spiraling in a wide coil around the entirety of it in one strand to the base…where it thickened again into a large coil of red-orange light.

It was her, she could feel it, that red-orange light, the colors of Gallifrey, they were HER part in the Doctor's life, much like the beam itself was his history, the entirety of his travels compressed into one large beam of light. She had been there at the start of his life and, it appeared, she would be there for the end of it as well. The single strand that coiled around the mass of it, growing thinner near the middle and only thickening when it neared the bands at the top and base, were when the Doctor had departed, left Gallifrey, travelled, the war, when she was at Torchwood, when they were apart yet…she was still a part of his life it appeared, even when they'd been separated, she had still affected his life.

"What's that?" Clara stared at it, her voice soft, breath catching.

"It's the ripple, Clara," the Judge sighed.

"What were you expecting?" the Doctor scoffed, frowning deeply at the beam of light, unable to look away from it, much like the Judge was. It was like there was a pull, the whispers of time, their own timeline calling to them, "A body?" he swallowed hard as his eyes flickered up to the bands at the top and bottom, the coil running around the middle, able to sense whose timeline that was as well and feeling his stomach and hearts drop to see the bottom band. He knew his time would end, on Trenzalore, there was the proof right in front of them, but to see that band, to know that the Judge's life would likely end as well…it killed him to know, "Bodies are boring, I've had loads of 'em," and it was even worse, knowing that. This was his last body, the Judge still had so many more to go…for her to die with him, it was terrible to know that she would likely die before regeneration could kick in, all those lives to come wasted, all the life in her stopped…probably because of him, "That's not what my tomb is for."

"But what is the light?" Vastra asked, glancing at the Time Lords, starting to feel concerned as they had yet to look away from it.

"It's beautiful," Jenny couldn't help but smile at it, it looked like a very…stretched out peppermint stick, instead of multiple red coils around it, there was just one, but it was still lovely.

"Should I destroy it?" Strax started to raise the pipe he hadn't let go of.

"Shut up, Strax," both Jenny and Vastra hissed at him.

"Ok," Clara blinked rapidly, trying to shake the odd feeling she was getting off of it and focus on the Time Lords, "Explain. What is that?"

"The tracks of my tears," the Doctor mused.

Simeon seemed unimpressed, rather bored actually, "Less poetry, Doctor. Just tell them."

"We told you, Clara," the Judge answered instead, knowing that the Doctor was feeling far more than she was, he had travelled more in time, his adventures were more far reaching than hers were, he was feeling the impact of the beam of light more than her, "Time travel has consequences, when a traveler dies, all the things they affected ripple. THIS is the ripple, it's a tear in the fabric of reality."

"It's the scar tissue of my journey through the universe," the Doctor agreed, not having realized he'd done THAT much damage. He knew he got into all sorts of trouble, never forgot it, but this? He couldn't recall a ripple, a scar, like this, this big and bright, in all his schooling. He couldn't recall any example of something like THIS existing save in theory and on much, MUCH smaller scales, "My path through time and space, from Gallifrey to Trenzalore," he pulled the sonic out of his pocket, hesitating a moment before flicking it at the light.

"_Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension?_" an old voice echoed above them.

The Judge gasped slightly beside him, that sound alone pulling the Doctor's hypnotized gaze away from the beam and over to her, only to see her mouth 'One.' It was his first self speaking, she was recognizing his voice from…all those centuries ago. He could feel his hearts constraining to know that she had never forgotten a single voice he'd had…and yet HE didn't know quite a few of the ones she'd had, he'd missed so much, so many incarnations of her. He'd had the chance, the choice to be around her, to experience them, and he'd not taken it. And she, only having met his incarnations so briefly, held every single one of his in her hearts.

"_Cybermen,_" another voice spoke, "_They're still in the nursery compared to us..._"

"Six," the Judge breathed, recognizing that one as well.

"_There are corners of the universe that have bred the most dangerous things..._"

"Two."

"_Do I have the right?_"

"Four."

"_You were fantastic, absolutely fantastic!_"

"Nine," she swallowed hard at that one.

That was the only one of his incarnations that hadn't known she was truly alive all that time, the one that she'd had the lest interaction with. She'd come across the incarnation of him from the war more than his ninth self, she'd only stumbled across him on accident. Touching down on earth during one of his adventures, when she'd been trying to find him, she'd run across him further in his timeline than she'd anticipated, had seen him walking about with Rose, had heard him talking. Even now, even though she'd only seen that him from a distance, she knew his voice, she knew his brooding nature, the weight of his choice to end the war and how it rested on his shoulders. She saw it all just in how he walked, in his expression when he wasn't talking, when no one was looking at him.

"_I'm the Doctor, I'm from Gallifrey, in the constellation of Kasterborous..._"

"Ten."

"_So you see…_"

"Five."

"_Hello, Stonehenge!_"

"Eleven."

"_It was the daisiest daisy I'd ever seen._"

"Three…" she cut off gently when her Doctor reached out and took her hand, giving her a regretful look. Because all the things he said, all that she heard…weren't things she had actually heard him say, all the things she hadn't been there to hear herself…but she knew his voice, every single version of it.

There were voices of hers that were lost to him.

She gave him a small smile, it still hurt to know that, it hurt both of them, but she squeezed his hand, trying to reassure him that, if it wasn't ok now, it would be one day.

"It's my own personal time tunnel," he took a breath, looking back at the beam, "All the days, even the ones that..." he let out the breath, his voice starting to shake, his grip on the Judge's hand slackening, "I, er, even the ones that I haven't lived yet…"

The Judge gasped as the Doctor's knees suddenly buckled, dropping him to the floor in a heap, taking her down with him as she tried to catch him, "I told you we shouldn't have come," she told him, shifting him into her arms as Clara ran to their side.

"Doctor!" Clara dropped to her knees, reaching out to touch his arm, "What is it? What happened?" she looked at the Judge in concern.

"No, no…" the Doctor softly moaned to himself, his body jerking and tensing as it spasmed in pain, his hands coming up to clutch the Judge's arms, "The paradox is...it's very bad!" he let out a cry.

"We're not meant to visit our graves," the Judge told Clara quickly, "Because our graves are an end to a timeline we haven't encountered yet, our own personal timeline. We're not allowed to cross into it in the past, we're certainly not meant to do so in the future, not like this. THIS is our body's way of warning us away…if we stay it'll kill us both…" she looked down at the Doctor, "It's killing him already."

The Doctor winced, looking away from the Judge when he caught something out of the corner of his eye, just past Clara, Simeon was walking towards the beam, "No!" he struggled to just lift a hand, reaching out as though he could stop Simeon in doing so, "What are you doing? Somebody stop him!"

"Vastra!" the Judge turned to the lizard woman, knowing she would be the best to actually attack, Strax, while a soldier, was too slow and Vastra had her tongue whip. SHE couldn't go near the beam at the moment, it seemed to contain HER timeline as well, the nearer she got the more it would affect her as well. It hadn't quite hit her the way it had the Doctor, but she knew it would eventually.

Simeon turned sharply, standing only a hair's breath away from the beam, the Whisper Men that had followed them in grabbing Vastra, Strax, and Jenny from behind, holding them back from attacking, one even placing its hand over Vastra's mouth to keep it shut, "The Doctor's life is an open wound. And an open wound can be entered."

"You go in there, you'll die!" the Judge tried to appeal to his sense of self-preservation. If the Great Intelligence had fought so hard to survive to this, why would he risk dying now?

"Yes," Simeon smiled, "I shall die, and HE," his gaze turned to the Doctor, tilting his head slightly in the process, "Shall be destroyed. I can rewrite your every living moment, Doctor. I can turn every one of your victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath."

"It would burn you up," the Doctor struggled to speak, "Once you go through, you can't come back, you'll be scattered along my timeline, like confetti."

"It matters not, Doctor," Simeon spoke with such simplicity, as though he didn't care one way or the other what happened to him so long as his vengeance was enacted, the most dangerous sort of enemy indeed, "You thwarted me at every turn. Now, you will give me peace, as I take my revenge on every second of your life!"

"No!" the Judge's eyes widened, knowing what that meant. It wasn't just about killing this Doctor, but destroying EVERY Doctor that came before him, including his very first incarnation. And if Simeon got that far…

Their children.

Simeon smirked at that, seeing the realization flashing in her eyes, "Goodbye..." his smirk morphed into a sneer, "Goodbye, Doctor!"

And with that, Simeon took the last remaining step back, right into the beam, falling backwards into the time tunnel, screaming in agony as he did so. The Whisper Men dissipated into thin air around the room, freeing Vastra, Strax, and Jenny in the process.

The Doctor's back arched, his voice catching, a cry of pain lodge in his throat as he struggled to even breath, his head shaking back and forth as his eyes rolled back into his head.

"Doctor!" the Judge shouted.

"What's wrong with him?" Clara reached out to try and help, "What's happening?"

"That," the Judge breathed, her eyes wide and focused on something over Clara's shoulder.

Clara turned around, gasping as she saw something forming in the air around the top of the rotor, like a smoke but she could see images in it, Simeon appearing here and there throughout moments of the Doctor's life. She assumed that the different men he was glaring at were the Doctor, past incarnations as the Judge and Doctor had mentioned a time or two, that he was a literally different man, something about regeneration or whatever it was called.

"Simeon's rewriting his entire life…" the Judge whispered, feeling tears building the nearer and nearer the man got to his first incarnation, "He's trying to kill him in reverse order…" her head snapped back to the Doctor, "He's feeling all of it!"

"When Simeon attacked him in London, with us?" Vastra frowned, having been there, pulling out her scanner to try and keep up with what changes were being made, "London…the Dalek Asylum…Androzani…"

"What did you say?" Clara's head snapped over to the lizard woman, recognizing that name, that place from the memories-that-shouldn't-exist, "Did you say the Dalek Asylum?"

"I…I can't make out the rest, it's speeding up!" Vastra cried.

"It is done!" Simeon's voice echoed.

The Judge looked back at the smoke, seeing Simeon fading when the Doctor was just a boy…he really had endeavored to kill him before any of this could happen, he hadn't even sealed the Medusa Cascade now. She bit the inside of her cheek, trying, and failing, to keep her tears at bay. It wouldn't be long now before the changes began to ripple back to the time tunnel, till they trickled down her own timeline and back to her, altering HER memories of it all as well, erasing her children from her life, from their lives.

She tightened her grip on the Doctor, bowing her head so her chin was near his temple, rocking him slightly as he writhed in her arms, twisting and turning and jerking as he felt his entire life burn before his very eyes, the light in the room turning an angry red as the time tunnel began to feel the ripple of Simeon's changes, the blood of the Doctor's lost lives now flowing down into it.

"Oh, dear Goddess," Vastra breathed as a terrible realization dawned on her.

"What's wrong?" Jenny looked frightened, if Vastra was THAT startled, it was bad.

"A universe without the Doctor, there will be consequences. Jenny, Strax, with me!" she turned and hurried out with Strax and Jenny, leaving just Clara, the Judge, and the Doctor in the console room…and River's image if it could be counted, the woman just standing to the side of the controls, watching, silent.

"Judge…" Clara reached out and touched the Judge's arm, "The Dalek Asylum," she repeated, "The Doctor…he said it was me that saved you all from it. How? And Victorian London? How…how could I have been in Victorian London?" she had seen it, in Angie's pictures, that was how the children had tricked her into admitting to her travels in time. They'd seen an image of her in Victorian London, a governess of some sort, and she'd blurted out that it was impossible because she'd only been in Victorian Yorkshire.

"Because you were?" the Judge looked at her, too upset and frightened to really be able to think of how Clara had been there, or why, "I don't know Clara, I really don't know."

"Please," the Doctor began to beg, his voice so quiet, so rough, as though he'd been screaming for hours, speaking not to the Judge or Clara, but to Simeon, "Stop! My life...my whole life is burning," he reached up and clutched the Judge's arms again, pressing himself more firmly into her arms, clutching her as though she were his last tie to his life…

And she was.

Because the moment the changes hit HER, she'd disappear and his old life would be over.

Clara looked down at the Doctor, at the two Time Lords huddled together, one falling apart in the other's arms, she'd never seen this, seen the Judge look so devastated or frightened. She could remember now, the shouting they'd done in the broken TARDIS, not even then had she looked like this, it was disconcerting and terrifying to see the woman like that, even more so to see the Doctor so weak and hurting.

She looked back over her shoulder at the time tunnel, a thought hitting her. They'd seen it, Simeon pop up in the timelines, the Doctor himself had said it that the man would be torn apart and only parts of him appear. Was that…was THAT how she'd done it, how she'd appeared in so many places without knowing it? Was that how she…how she kept dying?

"I have to go in there," Clara murmured.

"Clara…" the Judge looked up at her.

"I've already done it, don't you see?" she turned to face the Judge again, "You already saw the other mes, the ones in the past, like…like Simeon, how he went backwards in your time. I did that too, didn't I? Or I'm going to. I'm the Impossible Girl, and this is why," she swallowed hard, "If I step in there...what happens exactly?"

"Just like the Doctor said," the Judge spoke quietly, "You'd be torn into confetti and scattered."

"But whole parts of me? Like…like clones though, right? Not just my eyebrows popping up somewhere."

"Hundreds, thousands, of versions of you will have lives all over the place. Like clones, yes, but…not all of them will remember this. Remember why."

"Some of them will though," Clara argued, finally doing what the Judge had always been pushing her to, to hear what was being said, to think beyond it, "They'll remember enough, won't they? To stop Simeon, to save the Doctor and…and to save you."

"Clara," the Judge grabbed her hand, "You do that, you DIE."

"I do it, it saves you both, doesn't it?" Clara countered, trying to smile, trying to shrug it off like she wasn't scared out of her mind about the prospect of dying, "Like my mum said, the soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe," she reached out and gently pried the Judge's hand off of hers, realizing that the timelines must be catching up to the woman as well, her grip wasn't nearly as tight as it would be if she were at full strength, "You have to let me do this," she told her, standing up, "It's the only way to save everyone."

"Clara, your mum…I promised her…"

"My mum was a great woman," Clara cut in, "She'd be proud of me for this. She devoted her life to a place that protected the Earth, right? That's what I'm doing, but for the Universe. Cos Vastra's right, the Doctor…" she glanced at the tunnel, "He's been around a bit, he's saved everyone by now, or near enough, without him…all of them, the whole universe, is in danger. And I can help.

"The stars are going out!" Vastra suddenly ran into the room, frantic, her eyes filled with tears, "And Jenny and Strax are dead. There must be something we can do?"

Clara sniffled, "Well, how about that? I'm Soufflé Girl after all."

"No..." the Doctor murmured weakly, "Please..."

Clara just shook her head and walked towards the beam, "If this works, get out of here as fast as you can. And spare me a thought now and then," she smiled a bit, "In fact, you know what?" she looked back at the two Time Lords, she could see it now, in the Judge's eyes, the pain in them, how she was trembling, the timelines were going to catch up to her very soon, and she couldn't bear that. Seeing the Doctor in such a state was breaking her heart, she didn't want the Judge to suffer that too, she knew the Doctor wouldn't want her to either, "Run. Run, you clever boy," she looked at the Doctor for that, knowing how he felt about protecting the Judge, and knowing that the Judge would only run if HE was running, "And remember me."

She gave them one last, trying-to-be-brave smile, before she leapt into the light.

The Judge winced, closing her eyes at the bright flash of light that followed, peeking out to see Vastra hurry out of the room, as though going to wait for Jenny and Strax should they appear where they had disappeared. She looked at the beam, it was still red, but there was smoke now, rising at the top of the rotor, like with Simeon. She could see it, Clara, appearing in the same points Simeon had, throughout the Doctor's timeline, trying to help, trying to undo everything that Simeon had. She saw snatches of the lives Clara lived, as the governess in Victorian London, as Oswin on the Alaska, visiting the Library before her journey, and so many more.

"It'll be alright, Theta," she murmured, rocking the Doctor in her arms, her gaze on the smoke, waiting, hoping that everything really would be alright, "I'm sorry I can't do more. This…adventures and being the hero and knowing what to do...this is YOUR thing. This isn't my world, I don't…I don't know what to do to help."

She looked down, her hearts nearly stopping when she saw his eyes closed, his face pale, barely breathing, looking so very much like he was dead that she quickly put a finger to his neck to check his heartsrate. She nearly sagged when she felt it, faint, but there.

"Can you wake up?" she asked him, her voice trembling, she was alone, all alone, just her in a dead TARDIS, sitting on the floor of her husband's (and likely her own as well) grave, with him listless in her arms, alone and knowing that his past was being poisoned while she was just...useless, "Please?" she bit the inside of her cheek, shaking him slightly, "Please open your eyes, Theta, please…I don't know what I'm doing, I don't…I'm not…" her breath caught in her throat, she really didn't know what to do.

All this time, since she started travelling with him again, they'd been together or not far apart, he was always there to reassure her that it would be ok, that he'd be there to help if she got in over her head. He wasn't there now, the Universe was falling apart, and it all rested with a human to fix it all.

She looked up at the smoke, seeing Clara had gotten about halfway back in his timeline by now and returned her gaze to the Doctor.

"Please, love," she begged slightly, "You can't leave me. Not now, not like this. You promised me, Theta, you promised that you would _stop_ leaving me, that you wouldn't again. You promised you'd fight to come _back_ to me, so do that…now," nothing happened, "You have to fight, love, please, you have to fight, for me…for us…for our children. They're nearly gone," her voice broke at that, they were, in her memory, it was like the images that contained her fondest memories were being eaten alive, "And I need you to wake up, I need you to be ok," she needed to know that Clara was helping, that it was getting better, that what Clara was doing wasn't in vain, "Because I can't lose them too. I can't lose them again. I can't lose YOU again," she closed her eyes shut tightly, her face scrunching in sorrow as she turned her head away a moment, taking a few shaky breaths.

"You need to be ok," she swallowed hard, trying to stop her shaking, whatever Clara was doing it seemed to be working, she was trembling more for fear of him than the timelines starting to affect her, "You NEED to be ok. You need to fight to get back to me. I'm sorry," she added, "For not saying more, for not talking more, if I'd just told you on Gallifrey," she shook her head, "If I'd told you how I felt about you leaving, if…if I'd just been stronger, more open to change, if I'd just gone _with_ you…" she let out a breath, looking up a moment to try and stop the tears that just kept falling, "I lost so much time with you. I love you Theta," she looked down at him again, "I love you and I'm not ready to let you go again, I…I never will be."

She gently touched his face, "So you need to wake up. I'm the Judge, you always said with the children that my word was law," it was a little joke between them, she always made sure the children listened to him when they were ill, because 'he was the Doctor' and he always made sure the children listened to her when rules had to be enforced, because 'she was the Judge' she needed that to happen now, "So…you are forbidden to die. Do you hear me? If my word is law…then you're not allowed to go, not yet, not ever."

She held her breath a moment when she felt him actually move in her arms, breathing deeper, shifting. She watched his face intently, waiting, squeezing his hand so tightly that her fingers were tuning white and she was sure she'd probably nearly broken his hand in the process, but waiting. She peeked up at the smoke, seeing Clara had just convinced his first self about which TARDIS to go off in with Susan, the time reversing even more, the last time hope that Simeon would have made, just one more life, Clara just needed one more life to live…

The Doctor's eyes fluttered open just as she looked down at him, his gaze locking on hers as he started to smile. He squeezed her hand lightly, still weak, his voice breathy and tired as he spoke the words that put the biggest of smiles on her face, "You're the boss."

She let out a watery laugh and leaned down, kissing him just as the room filled with a bright light, the beam turning red to white once more.

~8~

The next thing the Doctor and Judge knew, they were standing up, the room restored to how it had been, the time tunnel white with the red-orange top and base, Vastra, Strax, and Jenny standing to one side of the room…the two Time Lords pulling away from their kiss to see that there was one thing that hadn't been restored…

Clara.

"It was an unprovoked and violent attack!" Strax seemed to be arguing with Vastra, "But that's no excuse..."

"We are all restored, that is all that matters now," Vastra rolled her eyes.

The Doctor, who had quickly made his way around the beam, wanting to check that Clara wasn't just on the other side of it, "We are not all restored!" he called, making his way back to the Judge, "What happened exactly?" it was all fuzzy to him.

"Clara went after Simeon," she told him quickly, knowing that time was truly of the essence. They'd been restored, it felt like they'd just stepped into the room, but she knew that it would only be a short while before the two of them began to feel the effects of the time tunnel paradox again, they truly had to be quick.

"She did what?!" his eyes widened at that.

"I couldn't stop her," the Judge added quietly, she really couldn't have.

She'd felt her strength leaving her near the end of speaking to Clara. It was different for her, she had been a part of the Doctor's timeline, his start and finish with a small bit in between, but SHE hadn't been the one affecting time as much as he had. Her own timeline catching up to her, her life ending and being rewritten wasn't as painful, she hadn't done as much. But it still drained her, she felt herself weakening, felt her hearts racing, her body fighting to keep going, to hold on and hold onto the Doctor. She wouldn't have been able to move much let alone stop Clara when she was at full strength.

The Doctor's gaze shot to the beam, "We have to get her out of there."

"She's been torn apart by now," the Judge argued.

"But a part of her has to still be there," he reasoned, "The main part, the real her, the original her, she has to exist as long as her echoes do, if we hurry…we might be able to get her back!"

"What, you want to go IN there?" the Judge stared at him as though he were mad.

"He can't!" River's voice called, the woman finally moving, finally speaking, stepping away from her place in the corner. She didn't know if River had been aware of what Clara would do or what would happen, she wouldn't put it past the woman to know though. It would make sense why River had said nothing, if she knew it HAD to happen to save the Doctor, that it had already happened in the past, "It's his own time stream, for God's sake!"

The Judge shot a peeved look to the side, as though she DIDN'T know what the time tunnel was and what it meant to enter it, especially if it was someone's personal timeline.

"We have to get her back," the Doctor insisted.

The Judge looked back at him, her frown deepening, "We?" she wasn't asking in a scoffing manner, not in a sense of saying 'you expect ME to help?' but more in a genuinely confused way.

"I can go in," he nodded, "But how would I get back out?"

"You need an anchor," she realized, he wanted her to remain half in and half out of the time tunnel, like a person at the top of a hole, reaching down to help pull another out. The Doctor could go in, could find Clara, and with it being partially her timeline as well, she would be able to follow him, be able to locate him.

"It'll work," he nodded, "We can get her back together."

"Of course you'll get her back but not like this!" River was yelling nearly right in the Judge's ear, making her twitch slightly, passing it off as a chill at the idea the Doctor was proposing, but really it was a last minute effort not to swing her arm out and flick it as though to wave the woman away.

"Ok," the Judge nodded, making the Doctor smile.

"Don't you dare!" River cried, causing the Judge to wince at the sudden increase in volume as the Doctor turned to the others, "Please, Judge, tell him! Tell him to listen to me…"

"Now," the Doctor clapped, pulling the Judge's attention over to him, "If I don't come back…"

"No," the Judge cut in, reaching out to take his hand and tug him back, "If we do this, we do this as if you ARE coming back," she pointed a warning finger at him, "My only condition to help, you COME BACK."

He smiled, "Of course," he nodded, before his smile turned a bit smirkish, "Love," he winked at her, making her cheeks flush as she realized why he'd said that…he'd heard her.

He reached up and pulled his bowtie off, winding one end around his hand and giving the other half to her to hold onto before he turned and hopped into the beam, the Judge hurrying to the edge and kneeling down, her one hand in the beam, leaning so close she could see down into it without being sucked into it. Still half in the TARDIS and half in the timelines. She could see the Doctor falling through it after Clara, watched him intently to make sure he wouldn't pop up in his own timeline but only appear where the real Clara had fallen…

"What are you doing!?" River shouted.

"Oh River stuff it already!" the Judge whipped her head to look at her, "I can hear you, clearly I have chosen not to listen to you about this! There is NO point in yelling my ear off about all of it when it's already happening!"

River glared at her from where she was standing beside her, looking down at the Judge with her arms crossed, "There has to be another way," she insisted, "Use the TARDIS, use something. Save her, yes, but for God's sake, be sensible about this! YOU'RE the sensible one!"

"It's rather too late to do much else right now River," the Judge remarked, turning to focus on the time tunnel again…

She could see Clara now, faintly, like she was looking at the girl from the top of a rather large building. She was in the cemetery of Trenzalore, just outside but in a ghostworld of sorts, another version of it. The fog was so thick she could barely see the ground, it was a miracle she could even see Clara as the girl curled up in a ball. She COULD however hear her crying rather clearly.

"Please!" Clara was begging, "Please, I don't know where I am."

The image of Clara got larger though, it felt like she was seeing what the Doctor was, and he was getting closer to Clara, but not quite there yet. The fabric of the bowtie tugged at her hand, the time tunnel making it both tugged in how far the Doctor was falling, but since it was HIS timeline, it was like there was no distance at all, like he was just standing before her, the bowtie just fine and not stretched at all.

"Clara!" he was trying to get her attention, managing to be heard as Clara lifted her head, "You can hear me, I know you can."

"I can't see you…"

"I'm everywhere. You're inside my time stream. Everything around you is me."

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek as she watched, seeing various incarnations of the Doctor rushing past Clara, all of them shadowed, the remnants of his past.

"Judge!" River called, pulling her attention back, "Please, get him out of there! You can still pull him out!"

"I can't," she shook her head, "Not till he's got Clara. He won't leave without her and you know it River. Whether I begged him or you did, he won't leave."

"How CAN I beg him?" River shook her head, "He can't see me or hear me, can he?"

"No," the Judge looked back at the time tunnel, "Whatever you may feel for him River, however important you think you are to him, he truly sees you as the daughter of his companions, and nothing more," she glanced at River, the woman seeming saddened by that rather harsh truth, but also with an understanding and acceptance in her eyes, as though she'd come to terms with it. It reminded the Judge very much of how River had looked when they'd been in New York with Amy and Rory.

"I know."

"He puts his companions in his past for a reason," she added.

"So he can keep moving forward," River nodded, "Like they'd want him to."

And speaking of moving forward, the Judge could see a progression now, the Doctors rushing past Clara, they were increasing from First to the most recent Doctors.

"I can see you," Clara breathed, "All your different faces, they're here!"

"Those are my ghosts," the Doctor was explaining, nearly there from how clear Clara appeared to be, how much closer, "My past," there was a little laugh, "The Judge's as well."

She frowned at that, squinting down, only for her eyes to widen as she saw her incarnations as well, only a handful though, her first and second and third, and the ones that the Doctor had encountered with Torchwood and Rose, the two he'd met then, the one from when time fell apart with River. She could see shadows of her other selves around the edges, but there wasn't time to focus on them as the light was starting to darken, thunder and lightning clapping around the scenery below, the ground starting to shake as Clara fell to her knees.

"What's wrong, what's happening?" Clara gasped.

"I'm inside my own time stream, it's collapsing in on itself," the Doctor warned, trying to speed up his fall, to get to Clara faster, get her out before it could collapse with him in it. He'd promised after all, that he'd come back.

"Well, get out, then!"

"Not until I've got you."

"I don't even know who I am."

"You're the Impossible Girl," the Doctor told her, "You're the Judge's and my…you're our ward, Clara, you're our charge. We are responsible for you and we are going to protect you…"

The Judge glanced over at River, seeing her still standing there, "You know River, he's left you in the past as well," she told her as gently as she could, recalling just HOW this version of River had ended up there, where she was, the Library, saving the Doctor, "You need to return to it."

"I wanted to help," River murmured, "One last time."

"And you did. And now it's time to go. Everything has it's time and place."

River's gaze turned to the beam, "Even if he was here, even if he could see me, he wouldn't say goodbye would he?" she questioned quietly, knowing the answer but needing to ask, he hadn't said goodbye before either, granted he hadn't known who she was at the time.

"No," the Judge shook her head, "He hates endings and he hates goodbyes. If he doesn't say it, then it's not the end and he can remember people at their best instead of at their end."

River nodded slowly at that, her expression sad as she looked at the beam as though she could see what was happening.

The Judge looked back down, wanting to make sure it was going well, spotting a leaf drifting down to Clara, a message from the Doctor.

"This is you, Clara," he was trying to anchor Clara just as his bowtie was anchoring him to her, to heel her from getting lost, from drifting away, to remind her of who she was and how she came to be, to remind her of her REAL life, her original life, "Everything you were or will be. Take it. You blew into the world on this leaf. Hold tight. It will take you home."

The Judge gasped when the image shifted rapidly, instead of seeing Clara from above, it was almost as though she were standing right there, seeing Clara before her and she knew the Doctor had finally reached her.

"Clara!" he called out to her, trying to guide her back, "Clara! Come on!" Clara turned and spotted him, staggering towards him but struggling to do so. The Judge winced as she felt the bowtie tug at her hand, the time tunnel was starting to weaken, he had to be quicker, "Come on, to me, now. You can do it, I know you can."

"How?" Clara breathed.

"Because it's impossible. And you're the Impossible Girl. How many times have you saved me, Clara? How many times have you ended up saving the Judge's too? Just this once, just for the hell of it, let me save you! You have to trust me, Clara, I'm real. Just one more step."

The Judge let out a breath of relief when Clara managed to stumble into the Doctor's arms, safe once more.

And now there was only one more person to see to safety.

She turned and looked at River, "I may not be the Doctor, and this may not be enough, but…thank you River, and goodbye."

River smiled softly at that, nodding her head slightly, "It's more than enough," she told the Judge.

She'd known of the Doctor's wife since her graduation from Luna University. At times, she could admit she'd been a bit more flirty with the Doctor than was proper, had tried to ensnare him a time or two, when the Judge hadn't been there. But as she'd grown older, as she'd ended up experiencing more adventures with both him and the Judge…it became less about loving 'the Doctor' and all that image entailed, and more about genuinely caring for him and wanting him safe. It truly did mean a lot to her, at this point in her life, to know that someone appreciated her efforts to help, that she'd been able to help, and that she was being genuinely thanked for it.

"Thank you," River whispered, "Till the next time," she smiled.

The Judge nodded, not at all about to think that their time running into River at different points in her life was over, "See you then."

She smiled as River's image faded away, feeling a sense of peace, that something had been put to rest that had been unfinished and unspoken. She shook her head, glancing at Vastra, Strax, and Jenny who appeared to be eyeing her with some measure of concern for her mental wellbeing. She opened her mouth to explain the aftereffect of their little dreamscape conference…

When she heard Clara speaking from the time tunnel, "Who's that?"

She turned back to the tunnel, feeling a familiar urge to roll her eyes and remark 'who else would it be in a place that ONLY holds the Doctor and I?' when she saw exactly WHY Clara had asked that question.

There was another man there, an older man, a man that she was sure Clara had NOT encountered in her travels, his back to them, his hair gray, in an old, worn jacket that had seen better days. Clara might not recognize him…but SHE did.

The Judge quickly gripped the edge of the bowtie around her hand and tugged it, trying to signal to the Doctor to step back so she could begin guiding him back out of the tunnel, he NEEDED to get out. She knew who the man was, more so she knew what he represented to the Doctor and for him to be confronted with the man…that was not something he would want to endure.

"Never mind, let's go back," the Doctor tried to step back, feeling the tug on the bowtie.

"But who is he?" Clara, however, refused to move.

"He's me. There's only me here, that's the point. Now let's get back."

"But I never saw that one. I saw all of you. 11 faces, all of them you. You're the 11th Doctor."

"I said he was me. I never said he was the Doctor."

"I don't understand."

The Judge tugged the bowtie harder, feeling the energy of the time tunnel start to hum and buzz and tingle around her. The Doctor was likely unaffected by it now that he was within it, but SHE was till very much NOT inside the tunnel and she was starting to feel that ache, that tightness in her chest, the weakness start to set in. She needed him out of there, if not to get him away from the other Doctor, then to get HER out of that TARDIS.

"Look, my name, my real name, that is not the point," the Doctor tried to explain as fast as he could, feeling the frantic tug, likely feeling what his wife was feeling by then given their emotional connection, "The name I chose is the Doctor. The name you choose, it's like a promise you make," he frowned at the man before him, "He's the one who broke the promise…" if he was going to say more, he was cut off when Clara suddenly collapsed right into his arms, "Clara? Clara! Clara!" he scooped her up, giving the man one last horrified look, "He is my secret."

"What I did," the man spoke, a voice that sent chills down the Judge's spine in the reminder of the only time she'd heard THAT voice and encountered THAT incarnation of him, "I did without choice."

"I know."

"In the name of peace and sanity."

"But not in the name of the Doctor," the Doctor stated, shaking his head and stepping back, making sure Clara was secure against him in his one arm as he lifted the other, the one with the bowtie secured around it, up in the air, her signal to pull…and so she did, just as the man turned around.

Luckily the image of the man, the man who had once been the Doctor (yet at the same time, a man the Doctor would claim was NOT him at all), faded quickly as she pulled with all her might, hefting and guiding the Doctor, HER Doctor, back out of the tunnel and into the TARDIS.

"Vastra, Jenny, Strax!" the Doctor called as he crawled out of the tunnel with Clara, "Help!"

Vastra and Jenny hurried over, helping Clara to her feet and guiding the weak woman out, Clara just starting to come around, while the Doctor hurried to help the Judge up, catching her and lifting her into his arms as her knees buckled in an effort to rise after her exposure to the time tunnel. He hurried out after the women, carrying his wife in his arms, the last thing the Judge could see was the Doctor's concerned face before the strain hit her and her world went black.

~8~

The Judge slowly blinked awake to find herself in the Doctor's room on the TARDIS, well, THEIR room really, the lights dim, covers pulled up high though the first layer of sheets was kicked down to her ankles…she was a bit of a kicker at times, when she was agitated before sleeping. She moved to push herself up when she groaned, her head throbbing, her body feeling like it was made of lead, her face and eyes scrunching at the move.

She cracked her eyes open when she heard the sound of the door opening to see the Doctor enter, his bowtie undone and hanging loose around his neck, two cups of tea in hand, "Clara?" she asked, not giving him a chance to say anything.

"Fine," he reassured her with a gentle smile, "Resting in her room as well. We're in the Vortex. Vastra, Strax, and Jenny are back home. No sign of the Whisper Men or Simeon or the Great Intelligence. And the TARDIS is all fixed up from our fall…"

"Someone's been a busy boy," she remarked.

He laughed lightly at that, setting the tea on the bedside table and kneeling on the floor beside the bed, his elbows resting along the edge of it for balance as he looked at her, "How are YOU?" he inquired, reaching out to gently run the back of his hand along the side of her face.

"Worn out," she answered honestly, "You?"

"Bit tired," he conceded.

The Judge just shifted back in the bed at that, pulling the blankets down and giving him a look that clearly said 'get in.' He chuckled and nodded, slipping off his shoes and sliding in beside her, pulling the blankets back up. He blinked, slightly startled when the Judge scooted closer to him and wound her arms around his middle, her head resting on his chest. Normally, even though they were sharing a bed once again, they were a little shy at times, taking a bit longer than this to cuddle up, only really doing so when sleep was tugging at the corners of their minds and they were relaxed and warm and comfortable. But he smiled nonetheless and put his right arm around her, his left hand coming to rest on hers as it laid over him.

They were silent a long while, both still awake despite the tiredness they both felt, neither really wanting to sleep either as they just needed their conscious minds to realize they were both STILL there, together, alive and well first.

"You called me 'love,'" the Doctor murmured after a few more minutes.

"Yes…" the Judge trailed off, not sure what the point of his statement was.

"I don't think you've called me that in this body before," he shrugged slightly, "Usually you call me dear or Doctor or husband."

"I was under stress," she mimicked his shrug.

He smirked at that, hearing a teasing in her voice, "You've been under stress before," he pointed out.

"Not like that."

"Close though," he let his left hand skim along her arm, causing goosebumps to raise on her skin, "I liked it. When you called me love."

The Judge tilted her head to be able to look up at his face, "I'll call you it more then."

"You don't have to," he told her quickly, "I mean, if you don't want to, don't do it just for me. I mean…"

"Love," the Judge cut in with a little smile, making him grin, "You ARE my husband, and I DO love you…why shouldn't I call you love?"

He nodded, "Well alright then."

She nodded, lowering her head to snuggle into him a bit more, "I won't do it often though," she warned, love was a very special word, she didn't want to use it so much that it lost meaning, "But I WILL use it."

"I look forward to hearing it," he spoke quietly, feeling the sleep tugging at him, the comfort of her presence, the warmth of her body lulling him to it, "I'll have to think of something to call you though…"

"If you call me Judy," she began to threaten him.

"No," he laughed, "No, no, that…that reminds me of Jack. No, I want my own word for you."

"I look forward to hearing it," she imitated him.

A few more minutes of comfortable silence went by before she tilted her head up once more, seeing him blinking in an effort to remain awake, "If we both go to sleep now," she began, "We'll both be there when we wake, won't we?"

He looked down at her and nodded, "We will," he promised letting go of her arm to cross his hearts.

Their morning routines differed quite a bit, whenever one rose (usually the Judge first), they'd just get up and get the day started. They hadn't quite gotten to snuggling in the morning, to waking together, to both being awake and in the other's arms. But now that had to change, it HAD to change. Because they'd both come so close to losing not just each other, but everything that they had between them, nearly literally when Simeon tried to erase them ever meeting or marrying.

"We'll be together," he murmured, lowering his head to press a kiss to her forehead, turning his head so his cheek half-rested on the top of her head, his nose in her hair, inhaling her scent, knowing she was beside him, the smell calming and soothing him, a reminder of her presence.

The Judge shifted her arm from around him to rest her hand over the center of his chest, feeling his hearts beating against it, a reminder that he really was still there, that his hearts were still beating, he was still with her.

Now she just had to figure out a way to keep him with her despite what she knew the future would hold.

A/N: Aww bit of love there for you ;) I wanted to look at the Clara-Time Tunnel from a sort of outside perspective, what they saw and felt when she jumped in and what was going on while she was running through the Doctor's lives :)

I can say Clara was affected by the tunnel, there's more to Clara's time in it that we'll see very soon ;)

Some notes on reviews...

If I do continue DW stories, I did plan to have a lot more mentions and memories of the Judge's life on Gallifrey in the spinoff for this story, so we might see more of it one day :)

I'm glad you're enjoying the stories! And Evy's an awesome costume ;)

I think what was hard about this last plagiarism was the co-author defending them and being so irate that the accounts were deleted (I still don't know if it was the site or user on quotev, I was made aware they deleted their own work on wattpad however). They essentially told me that I only reported their friend to 'humiliate them' (as though I would EVER do something cruel like that, I know how damaging even an accusation of plagiarism is which is why I gather proof) and that I was being a jerk, that I was stupid, and (as one person pointed out to me from comments the co-author made) implying they wanted to punch me :/ So having someone defending the plagiarizer almost was like them saying the plagiarizer didn't deserve to suffer some sort of consequence for stealing :( I'm a little iffy about Missy too so I'm curious to see what happens with her. I don't think she's god though, I heard that she was more like a Gatekeeper fo the Underworld (or my personal favorite theory, the Master regenerated as a woman lol). If she is god hopefully they'd try and spin it more of a 'she's A god' sort of thing, like how in the God Complex some aliens would set themselves up as gods but not really be one :)

Missy is definitely playing with fire. My mind actually went right to J from the Lunar Cycle and HIS reaction to someone messing with Clara lol. I'm curious to see what exactly she does/did to Clara in the finale :)


	29. The Day of the Doctor

The Day of the Doctor

_"Mother?" a voice spoke._

_The Judge let out a breath from where she stood on the top of a large ledge, a series of cliffs really, looking out at one of the war-torn towns that had been devastated by the Daleks. She looked over her shoulder a moment, offering a smile at her boy, her oldest boy, as he approached her, staring out at the burnt orange sky of Gallifrey though the burnt orange color had been tainted by the gray smoke of the burning village below them. Two different platoons had converged to try and stop the Daleks in a surprise attack. Both platoons had been expecting an attack in an opposite direction when really the Daleks had targeted a town between both. It was a trap, they all knew it, to try and lure them both in and take both platoons out. Luckily they had been able to win._

_It had been a stroke of luck that mother and son had found each other in the next platoon. A stroke of luck, and a stroke of terror to realize how close they could have come to losing each other had the efforts not been as good as they were._

_They were silent a long while, the village had been torn to the ground, the people within died by the bombing the Daleks had launched out of nowhere, but still, the Daleks had been destroyed, it didn't mean anything though, so many others had died._

_"Do you think he's out there?" the boy…no, the man, asked._

_The Judge took a breath in, "He crashed on Karn," she murmured, relating to him the brief encounter she'd had with the Doctor a short while ago. Her husband, oh…he had…some sort of timing didn't he. Either over shot or undershot or ended up perfectly and the perfect was rare. He'd been around the first year of the war, before things had gotten bad, had run off shortly after Davros had been sent into the Jaws of the Nightmare Child. He hadn't even come to see them when the war first started, had just been popping up here and there around the planet, not thinking to contact them._

_She knew why, he wanted to try and stop the war before it could start, and when he failed he ran off thinking that they'd see him as a failure as well. The fool, they'd needed him, whether he failed or not, they NEEDED him. And he'd fled, not wanting to get involved, not wanting to break his promise of being a doctor and helping instead of killing. _

_But it had changed. She'd seen him, a new him, the next him, freshly returned from Karn. He'd sought her out, as he always did when he returned, to tell her what had happened, how he'd tried to help a young pilot, how she'd died when they crashed into Karn, how HE had died but the Sisters there had brought him back. He'd been ready to die, because he HAD died, it wasn't natural what the Sisters had done, but they'd reminded him of his family, of what he'd be leaving behind if he turned them down. They'd given him the choice to regenerate into someone that could help end the war. And that was what he intended to do. He'd failed to prevent the war, now he was determined to end it._

_"He's regenerated," she added, "He…wants to fight."_

_"Father?" the man scoffed, "Fighting?"_

_It DID seem absurd._

_"He's regenerated," she repeated and it truly was the only explanation needed, they were all different._

_"Blimey," he breathed, running a hand through his hair, so short and choppy, so dirty from the ash and war that she truly couldn't tell what hair color he had any longer, he'd regenerated as well, "Can't imagine dad out there…"_

_It was something they always said, whenever she happened to see one of her children, that they wondered if their father had returned but that they couldn't picture him coming back to THIS. She swallowed hard at that, feeling tears in her eyes, she'd already lost two children to this bloody war, her son was all that was left now and she felt such a deep terror inside her that he would meet his end as well. It was almost like every Time Lord could feel it in their bones that the war was going to end, and end soon. This would be the final year of the war, they nor their planet could sustain more than that, they knew._

_"He's out there to try and end it," she murmured._

_Her boy nodded, grim, "You think he can?" he had to wonder that, his father had proven not to ever underestimate him._

_"A better question," she sighed, rubbing her head and closing her eyes, "Is HOW he'd end it?"_

~8~

"Clara!" the Judge half shouted when she looked up from working on the console, trying to get the monitor to display facts without the static that the Doctor had somehow gotten to interfere with the feed, as the doors to the TARDIS burst open and Clara rode in on a motorbike, "It's called manners!"

Clara rolled her eyes as she pulled off her bike helmet and glanced at the doors, snapping her fingers to close them, "Better?" she smirked at the Judge.

The Judge rolled her eyes this time, "I was talking about knocking."

"Ooh but knocking's boring!" the Doctor cheered as he leapt up from where he'd been sitting on the stairs to the lower levels, a book on quantum mechanics snapping shut in his hand as he spun to face them, making his way up to the console to join the Judge, planting a large kiss on her cheek when he saw she'd just managed to fix the feed, his hand resting on the small of her back, "This calls for a celebration."

"What, me fixing the video?" the Judge nearly laughed, "May want to wait for me to fix the audio also. I still can't fathom how you managed to cross the wires so badly that it translates outgoing calls to vulture."

The Doctor flushed at that, scratching the side of his face in embarrassment, before pointing a finger at Clara in warning not to laugh, though Clara DID seem on the verge of it, "Clara!" he spun away from the Judge and made his way around the console to his companion, "Fancy a week in Ancient Mesopotamia followed by future Mars?"

"Will there be cocktails?" Clara joked.

"On the moon."

"The moon'll do!"

"No cocktails," the Judge shook her head, "He's the most ridiculous drunk in the universe and you," she pointed warningly at Clara, "Are too young."

"I'm 26," Clara argued.

"My point exactly, you're just a baby."

Clara rolled her eyes at that remark. It was…familiar but at the same time not something she was used to just yet. The Judge was famous, at least to her, for her snide remarks and condescending view of humans, she'd gotten used to it after a time. Really, she DID try to look at it from the Judge's perspective. The woman was over 1000 years old, from one of the most ancient races in the entire universe, and from a species that saw humans as…well, toddlers and nothing very impressive. The Judge didn't see humans like the Doctor did and that was fine, they were two different people, but she was remarkably open in her dislike for humans.

She understood that as well, how she felt about humans, especially companions, given what she now knew of the Judge's feelings on her husband running off to have adventures with them instead of staying home. Even when her mother had worked in Torchwood she'd still seen her every day, all the time, never had the slightest clue about it till the TARDIS had been falling apart and the Judge had blurted it out. If her mother had been running off to have adventures with aliens, with alien children especially, with little girls just like her but alien and leaving her home without a thought…SHE'd be fairly incised as well.

But, while the Judge was rather harsh on humans, she did notice that the woman was actually trying to ease up. She highly doubted it was for her own understanding or her own efforts to view them better, no, it was all the Doctor. The Judge knew how much the humans meant to him and she was trying not to be too biting to them so as not to upset him. Though she could tell that the Judge was also being kinder to HER because of her mother. Nothing of it was because the Judge genuinely wanted to treat humans differently, it was all for other people, but she wasn't going to complain about it. The Judge HAD lightened up on her, which was a blessing, though not a lot, not by much really, but she did try to structure her remarks to be more guiding and educational than outright comments on how she (and all humans) were nothing more than stupid apes.

The Judge was trying to teach her to be better able to protect herself, to be smarter than a human, to think more and be self aware and self preservative. It didn't always work, sometimes she got really frustrated and things slipped out. Sometimes when she was tired or fed up with something she had a harder time holding to that. But she did TRY and that meant a lot to her, so she decided to try as well, to really think before she spoke, to try and genuinely work things out for herself, to be aware of what was going on around her. The remarks had lessened since then though the Judge was still a bit awful to other humans at times.

Oh she had gotten such a scolding when the Judge had recovered from the time tunnel, when they all had recovered from it. She still wasn't sure to this day, weeks after, whether the Judge was more angry with her for being a stupid human and jumping into the tunnel or herself for being too weak and fear-consumed to actually stop her. Either way she had been called more names and more slights against her and the many generations of her family for that one all culminating in the Judge actually HUGGING her. She liked to think it was the Judge actually being worried about her that made her so snappish and yelly after that, she liked to think she was finally starting to win the woman over.

Either way, she was used to the comments the Judge dealt her and she'd started to try and look at them more as the Judge being concerned for her than her being degrading. Calling her a baby might be a putdown, but for all she knew the Judge might actually be starting to see her as well, HER baby…not really, not ever, she knew that, she would never ever replace the Judge or the Doctor's children, but still, it did remind her at times that the Judge and Doctor did consider her to be their ward and charge and that they felt responsible for her, almost like a parent, but not really.

More like a carer.

And she was ok with that.

"I'm not that bad a drunk," the Doctor argued, "And I promise not to get drunk at all," he crossed his hearts, "Can we have cocktails then?"

"No," the Judge shook her head, turning to Clara quickly and speaking to her before the Doctor could try and argue his way into cocktails, "How's Coalhill Clara?" she changed the subject, making him pout, "Your students doing well? Teaching them something interesting?"

"Not remotely," Clara smiled, "What about you two, learn anything?"

"Not a thing," the Doctor joked back, opening his mouth to offer a physics lesson for her (even though he knew she wasn't the physics teacher) when the room suddenly shook, making them lose their balance.

"What's happening?" Clara quickly reached for the rails to stabilize herself as the Time Lords ran to the console.

"We're taking off," the Doctor stated.

"We can't be," the Judge shook her head, frowning, "The engines aren't even going, the TARDIS isn't doing anything."

The Doctor's head shot up to look at the ceiling, hearing that in the sounds of the TARDIS that it was relatively silent, no wheezing noise, no groaning, no grinding, yet the room was swaying as the box moved. He turned on his heel and hurried towards the doors, throwing one open and nearly toppling out till he got his balance to see they were being airlifted by a helicopter, a giant claw gripping the top of the TARDIS. He squinted up, making out UNIT written on the side and rolled his eyes, turning to open the instruction panel of the door, pulling an old phone out and dialing the only number that would be able to explain to him what was going on.

"Hello," a preppy young voice answered, "Kate Stewart's phone?"

"Yes, hello!" he glanced back at the Judge who was watching and listening with Clara, "This is the Doctor, is Kate there?"

"Oh, hold on!" the girl gasped before there was an odd crinkling noise like she'd placed her hand over the end and run off.

He waited a moment more, glancing at the watch around his wrist after a few more seconds, really wishing to know what was going on sooner rather than later, "Inhaler," he could hear Kate Stewart's voice speak distantly before it became clearer as she obviously took the phone, "Doctor, hello. We found the TARDIS in a field. I'm having it brought in."

"No kidding!" he grumbled, feeling a bit of the Judge rubbing off on him. He knew that he'd programmed Kate's phone with the TARDIS's number, it would come up from this line and this line only, how else would he be able to call her if not from the TARDIS.

And his exasperation was made even worse when Kate continued on to inquire, "Where are you?"

He let out a huff at that, feeling his lips quirk in the corner when he heard the Judge let out a small laugh, hearing that and feeling his urge to roll his eyes at the very obvious, shouldn't need to be asked question. He merely grabbed the other closed door with one hand and leaned out more to hold the phone up for Kate to hear the helicopter whoosing above them.

"Oh, my God!" Kate cried, "Oh, Doctor, I'm so sorry, we had no idea you were still in there."

"There IS a thing called knocking," the Doctor grumbled, "Isn't that a basic human manners thing? Knocking?"

"Hypocrite," the Judge called to him, remarking on how he'd JUST gotten on a spiel about not knocking being better and there he was chastising someone else for not knocking either.

He turned to wave her off…only to succeed in unbalancing himself without a hand to grip the door just as the helicopter turned on its path and sent him falling right out the door.

"Doctor!" the Judge gasped and bolted for it, looking over the side and nearly sagging with relief to see he'd managed to catch his legs on the base of the door, using the internal gravity to keep his legs fixed within…though it did mean he was now hanging upside down out the door now.

"A bit of help please!" he called up to her, the phone swinging around below his hands, out of reach as he struggled to try and get back in.

"Lost a bit of your strength dear?" the Judge shook her head, trying to maneuver herself a little to the side, to lean more out the door and reach a hand to try and haul him in, "Can't do a situp?"

"Not like this," he ground out, "Ow!" he winced as the phone swung and whacked him right in the middle of the forehead. He glared at it upside down and managed to grab it as it swung past him another time, able to hear Kate calling out to him, asking if he was still there.

"I'm having you taken directly to the scene," Kate informed him, though his gaze was more on the Thames below him and hoping that the internal gravity held more so that he wouldn't have to worry about falling right into it, "Doctor, hello, are you ok?"

"I'm just going to pop you on hold," he told her quickly, letting go of the phone and trying to manage a situp, to swing himself upwards, trying to grab for the Judge's hand as she held it out to him, Clara coming over to help keep him held in the box while the Judge focused on his arms.

Unfortunately, his efforts proved in vain, the wiggling and squirming ending up making it harder for Clara to keep her grip, the jerking motions shifting his legs further and further to the edge of the doorway, to the point where he fell right out of the box just as he managed to get his hand in the Judge's grip.

"Judge!" he gasped as his legs slid out of the box, leaving him with only her hand to keep him from falling.

"Clara!" the Judge winced at the sudden shift in weight, Clara sliding over to help reach out and grab his hand, try to lessen the burden of pulling him up, "God, Doctor, have you been sneaking Jammie Dodgers again? You weigh a ton!"

"Oi!" the Doctor called up to her, though he didn't deny the sneaking of the snacks. He winced slightly as a shift in the wind caused him to twist uncomfortably, reaching up his other hand to grip the edge of the TARDIS doorway. He tightened his grip on it and looked up at the Judge, "Let go," he told her.

"What?" she scoffed, as though that would happen.

"There are hand hold's here," he told her, nodding his head down a bit, "On the underside of the TARDIS, I can hold them better than gripping the door or your hand," he looked up at her, "I'll be fine, just…let go," he gave her a small smile, "Trust me."

"If you die…" she warned him seriously.

"You have my blessing to bring me back so you can kill me yourself," he winked.

She bit the inside of her cheek a moment before looking at Clara and nodding, aware of the small crevices and hand-rings on the under part of the TARDIS. They really would give him a better grip than her hold which was already slipping regardless. She and Clara hesitated only a moment longer, instead of letting go, moving his hand to the edge of the doorway for less of a shock when they let go. They leaned over, watching intently as the Doctor fixed his grip with one hand and swung the other under the console, disappearing under it a moment later. The Judge carefully leaned over and peeked down, her hair falling upside down around her to see the Doctor hanging there. He glanced back over at her over his shoulder and gave her another wink and a look clearly meant to say 'told you so.'

She shook her head at him and pulled herself back up into the console, pushing herself up to stand and look down as the helicopter brought them just over Trafalgar Square where a small swarm of UNIT red-caps were waiting for them with Kate Stewart and a young girl in a white labcoat.

"Why's UNIT here?" Clara asked the Judge quietly.

The Judge could only cross her arms over her red-plaid shirt and shake her head, "No idea, but whenever Torchwood or UNIT feel the need to bring in a Time Lord it's never a good thing."

It really never was, it was only done when they were truly out of their depth, and given how long UNIT and Torchwood had been operating, how much they'd seen, it was something when they needed help. It was BAD when they needed a Time Lord.

They both looked back out the door when they saw the Doctor scurrying across the ground, the TARDIS near enough to it for him to safely let go and get out of the way as the box was set down for them to get out without crushing him.

"Attention!" they could hear the soldiers saluting the Doctor as the box touched down, the two of them stepping out and hurrying to the Doctor's side where he too was saluting UNIT back.

"Why am I saluting?" the Doctor frowned, seemingly confused by his action.

"It's the soldier in you dear," the Judge called, making her way beside him as Kate approached, Clara on his other side.

"Doctor, Judge," Kate greeted them, "Miss Oswald," she added with a small smile, "As Chief Scientific Officer, may I extend the official apologies of UNIT?"

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, a word to the wise," he crossed his arms, "As I'm sure your father would've told you, I don't like being picked up."

"That probably sounded better in his head," Clara muttered, shooting a look at the Judge.

"He's more of the picker upper," the Judge shrugged, making the Doctor blush slightly.

Kate gave them a smile for that, noting a difference in how they acted now as opposed to months ago when she'd gotten their help with the cubes, before she shook her head, focusing on the reason she'd needed them brought in, the reason she'd kidnapped the TARDIS. It wasn't to make sure it was safe, as she was sure it had almost come across as being over the phone, but as a sort of leverage. She knew they'd come to collect their box eventually and she could speak to them then about the help she needed, now though they were there and there was no point to wait any longer. Time, when dealing with any sort of alien, was always better spent wisely.

"I'm acting on instructions direct from the throne," Kate spoke, holding out a hand to the girl beside her, a young woman with brown hair and thick black-frame glasses who quickly pulled out an old letter sealed with wax and gave it to Kate, who passed it on to the Judge, "Sealed orders from Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the First."

The Judge blinked, "And it's for ME?" that didn't seem right.

"It's for Captain Jack Harkness," Kate corrected, nodding at the envelope that had the man's name written on it.

"Then why give it to me?"

"He's out of contact at the moment," Kate seemed rather irritated by that, "But he's made it very clear in our dealings with Torchwood that anything of dire concern meant to be informed to him be given to you in his absence."

The Judge nodded a little at that, it did seem like something Jack would do, he wanted the world protected even if he was unavailable and he knew there were people within UNIT that would be able to at least contact the TARDIS if he wasn't there, get to her.

"Wait, did you really say he Queen?" Clara gaped, "The First? Sorry, Elizabeth the First?"

"Her credentials are inside," Kate gave a small nod and the Judge turned the letter open to break the wax seal, but Kate called out to stop her, "No. Inside..." she turned slightly to gesture at the National Gallery before them.

"What do you think honey," the Doctor turned to the Judge who gave him a look at the name, making it very clear that THAT name was out of question, he'd been trying to work out his own 'special name' for her after she'd called him love when he'd been having his timeline erased, "No?" she shook her head, "No," he sighed, agreeing, before clearing his throat at the amused look Kate and Clara were giving him, "Museum date?" he held out his arm to her.

"So long as you don't go stealing any home boxes," she pointed a playful finger at him, making him laugh as they started to head into the museum, "I don't want a visit from River Song just yet," she'd told him that she'd seen River on Trenzalore, she wasn't ready to be confronted with the woman so soon after dealing with her 'ghost.'

"Promise," he crossed his hearts and glanced back at Clara, "You coming?" he asked her, nodding his head towards the Gallery, "Nice scarf," he pointed at the young woman beside Kate as Clara passed her, wearing a bright multicolored scarf that appeared FAR too long for her and was wrapped many times around her neck and draped before her. He winked at her as Clara caught up with them, the three heading up the steps as the soldiers moved to attention.

The Time Lords and Clara headed through the doors of the Gallery and into the smaller halls, all lined with paintings and other artwork, statues and other beautiful pieces, moving for a set of large double doors at the end that they could see were guarded by two UNIT soldiers.

"Did you know her?" Clara had to bring up the question that had been niggling at her for the last few moments, "Elizabeth the First?"

The Doctor flushed at that and quickly switched the subject, "Unified Intelligence Task Force."

Clara blinked at that, thrown, "Sorry?"

"That means yes," the Judge answered, shooting the Doctor a small look, "And it means she likely either tried to flirt with him, kiss him, or marry him."

"Elizabeth the FIRST?" Clara shook her head, "She was the Virgin Queen, she wouldn't marry anyone."

"Oi!" the Doctor pouted, "I'll have you know I'm a very good catch."

"Of course you are," the Judge patted his arm playfully, "But you've already been caught. So I'd hope that it was NOT the third option?"

"No," he answered, nodding and putting his hand over hers on his arm, looking at her meaningfully, "I made it very clear that I was married."

"Good," she smiled at him for that.

"She just didn't believe me."

"Doctor," she huffed.

"I tried!" he defended.

The Judge let out a long breath and rolled her eyes at that, shaking her head while Clara glanced at the two guards as they approached the doors, the men moving to open them for them to pass, "And this…is UNIT?" she tried to recall, the Judge had mentioned something about UNIT once, mostly in reference to Jack and Torchwood, describing the other alien-knowing organizations on Earth and how another companion of the Doctor's had worked for them at one point. There was something about a LINDA that the Doctor added in, but it was apparently just civilians that had gotten sucked into an alien or something.

"Yup," the Doctor nodded, turning to Clara, grateful that the subject had been changed, "They investigate alien stuff, anything alien."

"Well they clearly know you two," Clara mused, not about to ask if UNIT had investigated them as they wouldn't have been called in if UNIT wasn't aware.

"I work for them."

"What?"

The Judge laughed at how absolutely flabbergasted Clara appeared, "Mhmm," she hummed, "The Doctor with an actual job. I don't know how the Universe survived it."

"Oi!" he pouted again, "Why shouldn't I have a job? I'd be brilliant at having a job."

"You told me the first time you met Rose, you blew up her job…"

"Yes but…"

"And then you tried to get a job in 1969 with Martha and ended up causing a blackout in the middle of summer…"

"Yes but…"

"And then you ended up losing half of Craig's customers in the Call Center…"

"Yes but…"

"And then you got the children so riled up in that toy department that the parents called to complain about you and…"

"Ok," he reached out and put a finger on her lips, "I'm rubbish at jobs."

"At HUMAN jobs," the Judge corrected, pulling his finger off her lips, "You WERE rather helpful to UNIT, like I was to Torchwood. Right job for the right person, stick with aliens dear."

The Doctor smiled at that, that was likely as close as the Judge would ever get to telling him to keep on with his adventures. Oh he knew she'd rather he have done it from Earth, joined Torchwood or UNIT and based himself on Earth, he kept coming back to it often enough and it was under threat constantly. But he appreciated that she did think he was doing a good job. She must be in a good mood, he reasoned, normally she wouldn't ever get so close as to say that she thought he was doing right by having his adventures. Either she was in a good mood or she was starting to accept that his leaving Gallifrey was alright in the long run, that it was worthwhile…

No, good mood, it was definitely just a good mood.

Because, to be honest, in hindsight, he couldn't actually bring himself to see his adventures being as great as he'd once thought them to be, not when it meant he'd lost all that time with his children and family, time he could never get back now that Gallifrey was gone.

"I will," he nodded, "And I'll keep doing it…" he trailed off as they stopped before a rather large covered frame that was covered by an enormous sheet which was dropped the moment they were stationary…to reveal what appeared to be something of an oil painting done in 3D, "Right now," he breathed, staring in terror at the image the painting was portraying, feeling the Judge reach out and grab his arm in shock as she too saw what he did, as memories assaulted her as well.

"Elizabeth's credentials," Kate's spoke.

"But...but that's not possible," Clara squinted at the painting, tilting her head to the side, trying to work out how the painting could look like that when it was clearly a painting.

But while Clara appeared awed, the Time Lords were horrified, because the picture, the image of the burning futuristic city with the dark orange sky and bright flames and lasers being blasted by small little pepperpot-like objects…

Was Gallifrey.

It was Arcadia.

It was the last day of the Time War.

~8~

_The Judge frowned as she was led into one of the many War Rooms of Gallifrey, not quite many any longer though. The war still raging, worse than ever, there were only two rooms like this left, if rumors in the barracks were to be believed. This one, just outside Arcadia, and in the main Citadel. She'd been shuttled from one to the other it appeared._

_"The Judge?" one of the men, one of the generals, an older man with graying hair, approached her quickly, "Wife of the Doctor?"_

_She blinked and straightened at that, "Yes."_

_"We require your assistance."_

_She shook her head, "What for?"_

_"Your husband…"_

_"What about him?" she wasn't quite sure what her tone was, defensive or inquisitive or fearful or all three._

_"The High Council have spoken to you of him, of their plans for him, yes?" the general spoke quickly, not having time, "Have they granted you your extra regenerative cycle yet? Has it stuck?"_

_She swallowed hard at that, bestowing another regenerative cycle, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, it depended if the body wanted to accept it or if it truly just wanted to die. In the middle of a war, nearly everyone wanted more lives, hers had accepted the extra cycle, a curse in itself. Because one bestowed like that could not be shared with others, and she'd been forced to find her son's body in the middle of a battlefield, dying, already on his 13th body, no regenerations left, and she hadn't been able to give him any of hers. Even though she still had about half of her original regeneration left, she couldn't share it now. He'd died, she couldn't even hold him in her arms as he passed on, the Daleks were attacking and her platoon was grabbing her and yanking her away and he'd died alone and without her there, without his father there and if he was going to end the war he should have bloody well done it by now!_

_"It has," she nodded, blinking away the tears in her eyes._

_"Good, we need you to find the Doctor," the general continued, "The High Council switched course, they attempted to trigger the Master…"_

_"What?!" she cried out, shocked, the High Council had told her that SHE would be Plan A, that SHE would be the one they sought out first to find the Doctor._

_They'd warned her that they'd been warned the Doctor was going to attempt something, that he'd reached his end. He'd left a message that had disturbed a great many Time Lords in very high positions and had stolen something that they feared would be the end of them all, had stolen it before but the message was what had warned them he intended to use it. She had nothing left to live for, her children were gone, but she couldn't bring herself to allow him to destroy the planet, not when there were still children there, children who had parents, parents who had children, babies and toddlers and children. _

_"They failed," the general cut in, "Their plan failed, we need YOU to find him and stop him before he ends us all. He's taken the Moment."_

_"And what's that?" she shook her head, wanting ALL the facts before she went after him._

_As his wife, she had a connection to him, she would be one of the ones that could find him quicker, she would be one of the ones that would be able to talk to him. She was his wife and even if he didn't love her like a husband should, she could at least TALK to him. They listened to each other, she could get closer to him than anyone else. But if she was going to do that, she needed to know what he was planning…and if it was worth stopping. If this…Moment could take out just the Daleks…_

_"He broke into the Omega Arsenal," the general explained, sound half like he were growling. The Doctor had tampered with the security system, the alarms hadn't gone off warning him of it for ages after he'd actually stolen the Moment, he'd had it all that time and they'd only discovered it happened when Arcadia began to fall, when the power to the city and the security had been leeched and the actual security triggered once more, "It is where all the forbidden weapons are locked away. The Moment, the galaxy eater, is the final work of the ancients of Gallifrey, a weapon so powerful that the operating system became sentient. According to legend...it developed a conscience. It can destroy everything in its path…the Doctor plans to activate it and we must stop him before he can or we are all doomed."_

_"If I stop him, I will NOT kill him," she warned, making that very clear._

_"If you do not stop him, however you do it," the general's expression hardened, "We WILL kill him to prevent him using the Moment."_

_The Judge let out a breath at that and gave a single nod before turning and hurrying back, through the shaking walls of the war room, towards one of the WAR TARDISes that had brought her there, they were faster, had better systems, better trackers than the TARDIS she knew her husband would take. It could help her get to him faster and she needed speed._

_Because Arcadia had fallen and with it all their hopes of winning the war, it was their last stronghold._

_It would be the last strand of what had kept the Doctor from doing this before, and she needed to stop him, before the Time Lords did. She moved to the controls, thankful that the WAR TARDISes were designed to be flown with, the very least, one pilot, and ordered the others out of the box. If she was going to find the Doctor, it would be her and her alone, she wasn't going to risk bringing someone with her that might turn on her and kill him._

_She moved to the monitor and flicked it on, looking at the message that the Doctor had left for the High Council and others to see._

_'No More.'_

~8~

"No more…" the Doctor swallowed hard, his voice brought the Judge back to the present, making her shake her head from the terrible thoughts that the image had inspired.

"That's the title," Kate agreed.

"I know the title!" he snapped.

"Doctor," the Judge squeezed his arm once more, shaking her head slightly, for once not remarking on the humans because this…this was far too serious to waste time on.

"Also known as _Gallifrey Falls_," Kate added.

The Judge turned to her, "How did it get here?" she inquired, "It shouldn't exist, not at this time or even this planet! THIS…" she gestured at it, "Is truly impossible. It's the fall of Arcadia!"

"It doesn't look like Earth," Clara mumbled.

"Not earth's Arcadia," the Doctor rubbed his head, "Gallifrey's. It's her second city."

"But how is it doing that?" Clara stepped closer to the painting, reaching out to touch a single finger to it, seeming almost surprised when her hand didn't go through it or feel the ripples that were indicative of 3D and holograms, "How is that possible? It's an oil painting...in 3D!"

"It's how Time Lords paint," the Judge answered, "It's a method we developed. So HOW is it here, I didn't paint it, did you?" she looked at the Doctor who shook his head, "Nothing of Gallifrey survived beyond the TARDIS," not even her WAR TARDIS had survived, "And this was NOT on the TARDIS."

"Elizabeth told us where to find it," Kate stepped closer, "And its significance."

The Doctor just stood there, shaking his head at the painting, staring more at the significance of it than how it was done or the city it was, remembering what it meant to HIM, what it had triggered in him, "He was there."

"I know," the Judge whispered back, she had…she had informed him of their son's passing the moment she'd gotten to a comm. unit, had patched into his TARDIS basecode he'd given her to contact him during the war, it had been just before Arcadia had been attacked, he'd been there, just in the city when he'd had to cut off the transmission and run out to help.

Clara turned to them, having heard them, and walked back, "Who was?"

"The War Doctor."

The Doctor flinched at that, "The Warrior," he corrected, not wanting to associate who he'd turned into during the war with anything to do with 'the Doctor' sticking 'war' in the middle was worse, he'd rather disassociate entire, be the Warrior instead of even close to the Doctor. Because that man could NOT be the Doctor, not after what he did to Gallifrey.

"The who?" Clara didn't understand.

"The other me. The one I don't talk about."

"I don't understand," Clara just said it this time.

"Of course you don't," the Judge muttered, making Clara cross her arms and give her a look like 'explain it to me then,' making her sigh, "Clara you remember the time tunnel, the other men you saw, all the Doctor?" Clara frowned, thinking hard on it, but nodded, "The one you didn't recognize, but the one the Doctor said was him but not the Doctor…that was the Warrior."

"I've had many faces, many lives," the Doctor put his hand on the Judge's again, squeezing it, needing that anchor, needing that reminder that he'd found his way out of that, found his way back to being the Doctor, husband of the Judge, "I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried very hard to forget. He was the Doctor who fought in the Time War, and that was the day he did it," he nodded back to the picture, "The day I did it."

"Did…" Clara began.

"Activated the Moment," the Judge cut in, "Time Locked the planet. It was the very last day of the war, it was the day he ended it."

"Ended the war to end all wars between our people and the Daleks," the Doctor frowned at the picture, getting lost in thought, "And in that battle, there was a man with more blood on his hands than any other. A man who would commit a crime that would silence the universe, and that man...was me."

"And that was centuries ago," the Judge reminded him, "The Time War is over, it's been over for…ages. WHY show us a picture of it then?" she turned to Kate, "Why THIS picture?"

"The painting only serves as Elizabeth's credentials," Kate explained, "As proof that the letter _is_ from her. It's not why you're here."

The Judge huffed, why couldn't humans just give a straight answer? She turned the paper over that had gotten slightly crumpled in her hand from the shock of the painting, and tore it open, looking at the message to Jack and frowning even more when she saw that Elizabeth hadn't even really ever appeared to have met Jack.

"Captain Jack Harkness, I have been informed that, should anything ever happen to threaten the safety of my kingdom, I am to contact you. As proof of my knowledge of you and as proof that the information I have been given is from a friend and not enemy, I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof of who has spoken of you," the Judge sighed at that, a painting like that certainly would alert Jack that it was a Time Lord and there were only two out there, "I have the word of my informant that you have pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom throughout time and are ever present to stand as her guardian. In this capacity, I have appointed you and those you deem worth as curators of the Under Gallery where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occur within its walls, it is my wish that you and your associates be summoned. God speed, my Captain."

"Why would you tell Elizabeth about Jack?" the Judge looked at the Doctor questioningly.

"I…don't know," he frowned, he truly couldn't recall ever having given Jack's name to the Queen of England, ANY of them…best to keep them away from the man lest he 'just say hello' to them. He shook his head and turned to Kate, "What happened?"

Kate sighed, looking lost at how to speak of what she'd brought them there for, "Easier to show you," she turned and nodded to the side, leading them out of the gallery and through a door, catching the eye of another man in a white lab coat that had joined her and the scarfed assistant when his phone rang, letting him know he may join her after he took his call.

Kate led the way down a hall, signaling back at them as a metal door shut just after they'd stepped over the threshold into the next hall. They didn't think much of it, trusting Kate wasn't about to secretly kill them all, and followed her into a side room where they came to a dead stop at the sight of the rather large portrait before them…of the Doctor, the last Doctor, the 10th Doctor, standing beside Queen Elizabeth the First, dressed in Elizabethan garb.

"Please tell me she didn't actually get you to marry her," the Judge gave the Doctor a warning look. She knew very well that her husband had been loyal to her throughout his travels, even when he'd thought her dead, even more so after he found out she was alive. She knew that it gutted him and made him feel so guilty if a woman even managed to get a surprised kiss on him, so much so that he immediately tracked her down at Torchwood or called her to apologize and explain it to her, never wanting there to be secrets like that between them. The thought of him ending up married had never crossed her mind, but if Elizabeth hadn't believed him…

"No!" he said quickly, "No! No, not married, no marrying humans, no. Just you dear. You are my one and ONLY wife," he assured her, "Crumpet?"

She gave him a dry look for that attempt, he'd somehow gone through every flower in the universe in the search of a 'name' to call her, and had moved on to food items now, "No."

Kate paused a moment, not having realized that the painting would mean that much shock to the Time Lords, she'd truly just been intending to lead them to what she was really concerned about, "This way," she called to get their attention, moving to the side of the painting and pulling, swinging it open to reveal it was a secret door with a secret passage behind it. She merely continued on, stepping into the passage and into the room beyond, a light turning on.

The Judge frowned at the sight, it was fairly creepy and haunting with the lights off, the sight of numerous statues cloaked in white sheets, much like ghosts, and the dimness had made it all the worse, reminding her of Caliburn House and ghost. But this was almost worse. The light wasn't particularly strong and the stark white parts of the room made her feel more like ghosts were just standing before her and that was the last thing she wanted to deal with after having seen the Doctor's past lives fall apart before her eyes, ghosts of the past should stay in the past.

The Doctor reached out and took her hand, squeezing it as though he knew what was bothering her, which he did. But his attention was focused on the floor, on a sort of sand or light dust/dirt that was covering it, making him shuffle his foot through it a bit.

"Welcome to the Under Gallery," Kate held out her arms, "This is where Elizabeth I kept all art deemed too dangerous for public consumption."

"Something interesting there dear?" the Judge asked as the Doctor didn't move after Kate and Clara when the woman turned to lead them on, remaining fixated on kicking the dust around.

"Stone dust," he murmured, taking a deep inhale of the room.

Kate paused in the doorway to look back at them, "Is it important?"

"In 1,200 years, I've never stepped in anything that wasn't," the Doctor shrugged.

"Then you clearly don't remember when our children wanted a pet," the Judge muttered. It was a little demon, the children and the Doctor had gotten one, like a dog, but it had more of a fleece like coat, like a sheep, but a dog size, and the tail was a good deal longer. It had left little gifts out on the yard and walkway and the Doctor had stepped in them enough times that even HE had agreed they should pass the pet on to a family that could truly take care of it. With their jobs and the children in the Academy, they couldn't really keep the pet and say they were truly able to do with it what it needed, give it affection and attention and take care of it.

"Oi, you!" the Doctor pointed back the way they'd come, spotting Kate's assistant had been following them at a shy distance, "Are you sciencey?"

The girl looked nearly like she was about to pass out just from being noticed by the Doctor, "Oh, erm," she hurried up to them, to stand straight before the Doctor, "Well, erm...yes."

"Got a name?"

"Yes."

"Good, I've always wanted to meet someone called Yes."

"Careful," the Judge smiled, "You're starting to sound like me," she warned.

"Might not be a bad thing," he shrugged, he could admit that he DID have a very high regard for humans, almost ridiculously so, he had SUCH high expectations for them, based on what he knew they could and would do in the future…but that was the future and this was the now and perhaps he could do with just the smallest bit of disillusionment about them, just a little, just a tad, be a bit more realistic about them.

"What's your name?" she turned to the girl.

"Os…Osgood," the girl squeaked.

"Right then, Os-Osgood," the Doctor clapped, "I want this stone dust analyzed," he pointed at the floor, "And I want a report in triplicate, with lots of graphs and diagrams and complicated sums, on my desk, tomorrow morning, ASAP, pronto, LOL. See? Job," he winked back at Clara and the Judge, only to think of something and point at Kate, "Do I have a desk?"

"No," Kate gave him an amused look.

"And I want a desk!"

The Judge shook her head, "You only get a desk if you plan to come and work for them permanently again, do you?"

He pouted, but sighed, "No."

"Then no desk."

Kate laughed at that, this really was VERY different than the last time she'd seen either of the Time Lords, "Get a team, analyze the stone dust," she turned to start to lead them away though she could hear Osgood squeaking just in trying to breathe as they left, "Inhaler!"

They walked down another hall that was more medieval in design, lined with pictures and artifacts, one being a painting of what appeared to be Cybermen in an Victorian era war…and a fez sitting in a glass box on the other side of the hall, something which the Doctor just HAD to stop and take a swipe at.

Neither Clara nor the Judge seemed amused by it as he slipped it onto his head.

"Someday, you could just walk past a fez," Clara remarked.

"Never going to happen," the Doctor smiled.

The Judge, who had grown just the smallest of smiles at the sight of him in the fez, felt her smile slip at that. There really wouldn't would there? Not just because the Doctor felt that he would always, no matter the incarnation, want a fez, but because there just…wouldn't be any more hims to want a fez after this one. She cleared her throat and shook her head, trying to smile when she saw the Doctor smiling at her. He wasn't thinking like that, he was fully content and determined to, at least for the moment, live each moment he had to the fullest and to think that he'd continue on after it was over. And she wasn't going to do that to him, not now, not when there was another threat on the horizon.

They turned and followed Kate into a white room that was lit up much better than the statue area, with paintings hanging on the walls, all of them being 3D in make, yet again, oil paintings like the one of Gallifrey, but with glass from the frames shattered on the floor.

"As you instructed, nothing has been touched," a soldier that had been standing guard told Kate, taking her coat from her as he moved to leave and give her privacy.

"This is why we called you in," Kate stepped to the other side of the glass and gestured down at it.

"3D again," Clara was more focused on the paintings.

"I don't think that was her point Clara," the Judge remarked with just the slightest bit of warning in her voice to pay attention.

"Right," Clara shook her head and looked down at the glass, "But what's so bad about broken glass?"

"Where it's broken from," the Doctor answered, crouching down to pick up one of the larger pieces, carefully examining it, eyeing the edge of it and picking up another to compare, making sure he held them just as they'd been lying down, not turning them around or altering their position, "Look at the shatter pattern," he turned to the Judge slightly as she crouched next to him, "The glass on all these paintings."

The Judge reached out and gently touched the edge of the glass, being careful not to cut herself, but looking more at the angle the glass had been broken on , "It's broken from the INSIDE," she realized, getting up and moving over to the picture frame, leaning over to examine the glass shattered on that one at the edges.

"As you can see, all the paintings are landscapes," Kate added, "No figures of any kind."

"So?" the Doctor shook his head.

Kate sighed, "There used to be," she held up a small tablet that had been resting on a bench in the room and moved to stand in front of the painting, the Doctor getting up as he and the women joined around her, looking at an image of the painting to see there was a shadowy lump standing on two legs in the distance of the painting…but there was no figure now.

"Something's got out of the paintings," Clara realized, being sure not to phrase it as a question as she was quite sure that was what the implication in the pictures was.

"Lots of somethings," the Doctor agreed, frowning at the painting, "Dangerous."

Kate let out a frustrated breath, "This whole place has been searched. There's nothing here that shouldn't be, and nothing's got out."

"And let me guess, no security cameras…" the Judge began to speak, when a bright burst of light appeared behind them, a loud crackling noise accompanying it, cutting her off.

They turned and looked over, moving backwards as what appeared to be a rather large wormhole appeared in the air in the corner of the room. It wasn't sucking them in, it wasn't really doing much of anything, but it was there and when things just appeared they didn't tend to be good.

"Oh, no!" the Doctor grumbled, "Not now!"

"Not now what?" the Judge frowned at him, a hand held up before her eyes to help with the blinding light of the wormhole, she was getting the feeling that the Doctor knew what this was or had been expecting it and she was NOT sure why that was.

"Doctor, what is it?" Clara called above the noise of it, the crackling was lessening but it was still quite loud.

"No, not now," he just continued to gripe, "I'm busy!"

"Is it to do with the paintings?" Kate asked.

"No, no. This is different. I remember this."

"You do?" the Judge turned to him, "From when? What is it?"

"Um," he winced, "Almost remember..." he amended, reaching up a hand to rub his forehead, feeling a headache coming as he tried to remember exactly what happened, it was like it was fuzzy, like he hadn't realized he WAS expecting it till he saw it, and felt the edge of the fez, "Oh, of course!" he whipped it off his head, "This is where I come in!"

"What are you going to do?" Clara stepped closer to him as he spun around to grin at them.

Only for him to run at the wormhole, throwing the fez at it moments before leaping in with a cry of, "Geronimo!"

"Doctor!" Clara jumped forward, closer to him than the others and grabbed his arm to try and stop him…only to be sucked in with him.

The Judge closed her eyes a moment, "Kate."

"Yes?" Kate asked, not taking her eyes off the wormhole.

"Please tell me my dunce of a husband didn't just jump into a wormhole to god knows where with our ward."

Kate could only shake her head at that, unable to say it.

~8~

The Doctor fell with a huff onto the ground, on his stomach, wincing as Clara toppled onto his back on her back, the two of them sprawled out in the dirt and grass and leaves in the middle of the woods as the wormhole closed.

"Alright Clara?" the Doctor asked with a groan.

"Think so," she breathed, trying to get the wind that had been knocked out of her back.

"Good, good…listen, um could you get off of me?"

"Sorry!" Clara winced, scrambling up to her feet and turning to try and help him up…though she froze, her eyes wide, hand still extended towards him, as she caught sight of two identical Queen Elizabeths standing before her with a thin man in a brown suit and the fez on his head, a very familiar man…the last Doctor! It was the last Doctor! She recognized him from the time tunnel, "Oh my stars…"

"What is it?" the Doctor winced, gripping her hand and nearly toppling her again when he yanked to try and get up and didn't expect her to not have the grounding to be able to pull him back instead of stumble forward. He rolled onto his bum and frowned at Clara's shocked face, "What?" he looked to the side, following her gaze and his own eyes widened, "Lordy…"

"Who are they?" one of the Elizabeth's whispered to the Doctor, the 10th Doctor.

"That's just what I was wondering," the man replied.

"Oh, that is skinny," the Doctor rolled his eyes, pushing himself off the ground himself and facing himself, "That is proper skinny. I've never seen it from the outside. It's like a special effect. Oi!" he moved as though he wanted to swipe the fez off his head but Clara snapped out of her shock and hurried forward to pull him back.

The 10th Doctor looked between him and Clara, seeming to work something out, "You're not..." he began, slowly moving his hand towards his pocket as the Doctor mirrored him, the two of them pulling their sonics out though HE was the quicker draw, flicking his on and frowning when he saw a rather more impressive sonic in the Doctor's hand, "Compensating?"

"For what?" the Doctor frowned as Clara tried not to snort, her shock fading to amusement and wonder at being able to see TWO Doctors interacting.

"Regeneration, it's a lottery."

"No," the Doctor smirked, flipping his sonic and putting it away just as the 10th Doctor did the same, "Just wanted something a bit more impressive."

"Oh don't tell me we actually start to TRY and be impressive," the 10th Doctor frowned, "What do we lose our edge?"

"No, just have more of a reason to be impressive."

"And what's that?"

"Someone to impress."

"And who's that?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," the Doctor smirked though Clara saw a tenseness in it.

Well, he did have a right to be tense. This was the Doctor, the man before him, that had been trying constantly to get the Judge to travel with him, and HE succeeded. The Judge was travelling with HIM and he didn't want this other Doctor to get any ideas. The Judge was HIS Judge, it was the Judge from HIS timeline, not this…this matchstick man's. He knew the Judge would probably be cross with him for not letting on that she was actually there, but he hoped she'd understand, she was just…she was his special secret.

"What her?" the 10th Doctor misinterpreted, nodding at Clara, "She seems pretty impressed already," he grinned, turning it into a smirk as he sent it back to the Doctor.

He rolled his eyes, growing slightly mocking, "Oh, he's cool. Isn't he cool? 'I'm the Doctor and I'm all cool…oops, I'm wearing sandshoes!'"

"Sandshoes?" Clara had to laugh at that, "Is that honestly the best you can come up with?" she shook her head, "I'm starting to think he IS cooler than you."

"Oi, Clara!" he huffed.

"What?" she shrugged, "HE hasn't got a bowite," she flicked it.

"Bowties _are_ cool," the Doctor defended.

"What are you even doing here?" the 10th Doctor shook his head, not about to let his future self interfere in his quest to save the planet from a possible Zygon invasion, "I'm busy," he gestured at the Elizabeths.

"May want to be more careful with your words," the Doctor remarked, thinking about what the Judge would think if she'd heard that, "Otherwise she," he nodded at Clara, "Will REALLY start to think we have a snogbox."

"A what?" the 10th Doctor grimaced at the thought, before trying to focus, "One of them is a Zygon!" he would NOT be kissing any Zygons anytime soon, ever.

"Please tell me he didn't say Zygon, Doctor!" the Judge's voice called as the wormhole reestablished itself behind them, floating in the air as both men whipped out their brainy spectacles and slipped them on, grinning at each other and pointing at the rather nice touch as Clara rolled her eyes.

"That's exactly what he said," Clara responded.

"Your Majesties..." the Doctor glanced back at the Elizabeths, "Probably a good time to run."

"But what about the creature?" both women glared at the other.

"Elizabeth," the 10th Doctor sighed and moved back over to them, "Whichever one of you is the real one, turn and run in the opposite direction to the other one."

"Of course, my love!"

"Stay alive, my love," one of the Elizabeths stepped up to him and grabbed him by the arms, "I am not done with you yet!" before planting a kiss on his lips.

Clara watched in curiosity as the Doctor struggled not to return the kiss, as he tried to pull away, as he appeared rather irritated when the woman finally broke away and ran off. He was NOT happy at all to have been kissed, which made her think he might lightly be ata point where he knew his wife was alive, she imagined that would be the sort of face a married man would make if someone tried to kiss him that wasn't his wife…let alone if the woman that tried to kiss him might be some other alien.

"Thanks," he grumbled, wiping his lips off with the back of his hand, "Lovely."

"I understand," the second Elizabeth took the first's place before him, grabbing him by the lapels though, "Live for me, my darling. We shall be together again!" before doing just as the first, kissing him and hurrying away.

"Please tell me they STOP doing that," the 10th Doctor looked at the Doctor pleadingly, this time trying to wipe his mouth off with his sleeve.

The Doctor gave him a small smile, the earlier animosity gone and replaced with understanding, he truly did NOT like being kissed by anyone that wasn't his wife and he knew that this version of him would be intent to go to the TARDIS as soon as he could to call the Judge and tell her what happened…which only solidified his thoughts that this him would forget all of this…because HE couldn't remember it very well either. He would never tell the Judge because he wouldn't remember. But he could take pity on the poor bloke, he had always been loyal to the Judge and that wouldn't change, he truly didn't feel right or good about anyone kissing him save her.

"They do," he nodded, not offering more, not about to say that it WOULD continue, the kisses, but only from the Judge.

"Wait…so one of those was a Zygon, wasn't it?" Clara blinked, the realization just hitting her.

"Yeah," the 10th Doctor grimaced.

"And a Zygon is…"

"Big, red, rubbery thing," the Doctor told her, "Covered in suckers. Venom sacs in the tongue."

"Like an octopus?" she frowned, grimacing herself as the Doctor snapped his finger and pointed at her.

"What did he do with the Zygon?" the Judge's voice called out.

"You can hear us now?" the Doctor just turned back to the wormhole, he'd been hoping that it had been too fuzzy to really hear everything before.

"Yes, and what happened with the Zygon?"

"Nothing!" both men shouted.

"Nothing at all cupcake!" the Doctor added.

"Don't Doctor, just don't," the Judge sighed though the Doctor smiled at it, "Where even ARE you?"

The Doctor looked at the 10th Doctor who answered, "England 1562."

The Judge was silent a moment, "Is that your last self?"

"Yes," the Doctor laughed, "We had a bit of a run in."

There was a long, exasperated exhale, "You DO realize that's against all the laws yes?"

"Yes," the Doctor winced, "I know you know all about the laws of time, muffin…"

"Doctor!"

The Doctor laughed, thoroughly enjoying that he could call her little names and she couldn't physically stop him…she HAD taped his mouth shut once when he'd gotten a bit overboard on the flowery names, "Sorry," he amended.

"At least tell me Clara is there with you?"

"Hello!" Clara called, reassuring the Judge herself.

"Can you come back through?" Kate asked.

"Physical passage may not be possible in both directions," the Doctor mused, "It's...ah! Hang on!" he turned and managed to snatch the fez off of a rather bemused 10th Doctor's head this time, "Fez incoming!" he warned as though he were about to chuck a grenade to them and threw the fez into the wormhole.

"Did you toss it yet?" the Judge inquired.

The Doctor blinked, "It didn't come through?"

"You're starting to sound human again dear," the Judge remarked, "Would I have asked if it had?"

"Right," the Doctor nodded.

"But…if it didn't go back to the Gallery, where DID it go?" Clara wondered.

The 10th Doctor pointed at her, "Good question."

"Keep him talking," Kate seemed to be speaking to the Judge before there was silence.

"Ok," the 10th Doctor eyed his future self, "You used to be me, you've done all this before, what happens next?"

"I don't remember," the Doctor admitted.

"How can you forget this?!"

"Hey, hang on, it's not MY fault. You're obviously not paying enough attention. Reverse the polarity!" he turned with a start, whipping the sonic out so quickly that Clara jumped back from it, nearly getting whacked in the face by his hand. The 10th Doctor did the same and they both flicked their sonics at the wormhole, "It's not working."

"We're both reversing the polarity!" the 10th Doctor stated.

"Yes, I know that."

"Doctor if you're both reversing something one of you is just switching the polarity back," Clara brought it up.

The two men had JUST lowered their sonics, realizing that and about to debate who should reverse the polarity, when there was a small grunt and a thump just below the wormhole. They turned slowly to see an old man, the man from the time tunnel, stand up from the ground, looking just as Clara had seen him, gray hair, old jacket, worn and tired.

"Anyone lose a fez?" the man smiled as he stood from where he'd landed, holding the fez up in his hand.

"Clara get back," the Doctor reached out and tugged the girl behind him.

"You," the 10th Doctor breathed, staring at the man in alarm, stepping closer to his future self as well to help protect Clara who, he assumed, was his latest companion, from their past, "How can you be here? More to the point, WHY are you here?"

"What happened?" the Judge called, "Is someone else there now?"

"Ah, good afternoon," the Warrior responded to them all, smiling over his shoulder at the wormhole as well, not seeming to hear the small gasp that the Judge made at the sound of his voice so clear, "I'm...looking for the Doctor."

"Well...you've certainly come to the right place," the 10th Doctor glanced at his future self and back to his past self.

"Good!" the man smiled jovially, "Right! Well, who are you lot? Oh, of course! Are you his companions?"

"His companions?" the Doctor seemed offended by that.

"I am," Clara waved at the man slightly, "Hello. Clara Oswald."

The Warrior chuckled softly, "They get younger all the time! Well, if you could point me in the general direction of the Doctor..." he began, trailing off when Clara merely pointed at the two men beside her, "Really?" he gaped at them, "You're me? Both of you?" they nodded, "Even that one?" he stared more at the Doctor than his 10th self.

"Yes!" the Doctor huffed, indignant at the remark.

"It's the floppy hair and bowtie isn't it?" Clara guessed, amused, actually SO much more than amused at the moment now that she got to see THREE Doctors at once and, even if two were rather tense about the third, it was still remarkable to her.

"You're my future selves…" the Warrior mused.

"Yes!" they shouted.

"You definitely spent FAR too long with the humans if you sounded like them even THAT far in your past Doctor," the Judge commented.

"Oi!" Clara huffed, "I AM still here you know!" though the Doctor seemed amused, the 10th Doctor frowned a little as he tried to work out why he'd be travelling with someone that seemed to put humans down quite a bit and actually be amused by it, and the Warrior just appeared confused how the woman could know him so well that she'd be able to comment that.

"Am I having a mid-life crisis?" the Warrior shook his head, focusing back on his future selves as he tried to approach them, only to have them stumble back, pulling Clara with them and holding their sonics out before them as though it could create a protective barrier to keep him away, "Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They're scientific instruments, not water pistols. Look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Ooh please don't say ghosts," the Judge nearly groaned, "I hate ghosts."

"Sorry cookie," the Doctor called.

"Call me another food product Doctor…" the Judge threatened, but he just laughed, with the Warrior coming through it kept the Judge from following, she'd likely end up where the Warrior had been and neither of them wanted her to end up in the war era which was the only time the man before them really existed.

"Still..." the 10th Doctor mumbled, slowly putting down his sonic, a thoughtful frown on his face, his eyes fixed on the wormhole at that little admission the Judge had given striking something in him about someone else that was afraid of ghosts and things but…loads of people were, "Loving the posh, gravelly thing. It's very convincing."

"Brave words, Dick Van Dyke," the Doctor scoffed, about to say more when a handful of soldiers suddenly burst into the woods, rushing past the trees to surround them.

"Encircle them!" one of the men shouted as the soldiers lowered their pikes and swords at the group of four, forcing the two Doctors to lift their sonics once more in a defensive maneuver, "Which of you is the Doctor? The Queen of England is bewitched. I would have the Doctor's head."

"Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day," the Warrior remarked.

"Doubtful," the Judge called, "More people than you know have tried for his head and ended up worse for it."

"What is that?" the man who had given the order before jumped at the sound of the Judge's voice and spun around, gasping at the sight of the wormhole floating above them.

The Warrior glanced back to see what his future selves might say about it and rolled his eyes at the sight of poor Clara wedged between their backs, the two of them glaring at the soldiers with their sonics out, "Oh, the pointing again. They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

"That thing...what witchcraft is it?"

The Doctors slowly lowered their arms, slipping their sonics away as the Doctor stepped forward, but not before giving his 10th self a firm look to keep an eye on Clara, even gesturing that he'd be watching them as he did so, "Ah, yes! Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft, yes, yes, yes. Witchy-witchcraft. Hello? Hello in there? Excuse me. Hello! Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?"

"Really," the Judge sighed, "Just because I said no food products doesn't mean you need to move onto monsters Doctor."

The Doctor cleared his throat, "Most beautiful and enchanting witch there is," he winked at the wormhole despite knowing the Judge likely couldn't see it, making the two Doctors behind him frown at how he was complimenting and quite clearly flirting with someone, something that didn't sit right with either given that one knew his wife was alive and the other thought her dead and that it would never be alright to flirt with anyone and tarnish her memory, "Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"

"All ye prattling mortals that dare harm a hair on the heads of my servants had best find themselves gone and hidden away lest I come for you in the night and deliver your soul to the devil himself," the Judge boomed at the men, actually making the soldiers flinch at that and take a step back.

"Well done my fairy," the Doctor called.

"Yes…I'd rather the food products," the Judge muttered, the Doctor throwing a fist in the air at the small victory of getting to work through the rest of the food items he wanted to try for.

"Doctor," Clara stepped a bit closer to him, the amusement having faded now that they were surrounded by soldiers and the concern starting to creep in again, "What is actually going on right now?"

"It's a...timey-wimey thing," he offered, not wanting to worry her.

"Timey...what?" the Warrior stared at him as though he'd completely lost what little of his mind he had left, "Timey-wimey?"

"I've no idea where he picks that stuff up," the 10th Doctor tried to deflect, knowing exactly where he'd picked it up.

"The Queen!" one of the soldiers cried, the men dropping to a knee as Elizabeth calmly strolled into the area as though she were just out for a walkabout with no hint of fear or apprehension that an alien was after her.

She paused, eyeing the three men and Clara who had yet to drop to a knee, "You don't seem to be kneeling. How tremendously brave of you."

"Which one are you?" the 10th Doctor narrowed his eyes, trying to determine it, knowing that there was no point to sniff her as, in this time period where baths weren't quite common, the people and the Zygons smelled roughly the same, "What happened to the other one?"

Elizabeth smirked darkly at that, "Indisposed. Long live the Queen!" she grinned as the chant was taken up by the others, "Arrest these men and their accomplice," she eyed Clara in distaste, "Take them to the Tower."

"That is not the Queen of England!" the 10th Doctor declared, "That's an alien duplicate!"

"And you can take it from him, cos he's really checked," the Doctor muttered.

"And HOW exactly did he check?" the Judge asked from the wormhole and the three men could almost swear, even though two had no idea what she looked like, that she was crossing her arms right now.

"No, hang on," the Doctor called, his eyes widening as a thought hit him, "The Tower! Did you say the Tower? Ah, yes, brilliant, love the Tower. Breakfast at eight, please. Will there Wi-Fi?"

The Warrior, who had been watching as the Doctor flailed about as he was talking, the flailing getting worse as he got excited, "Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?"

"Yes!" the Doctor clapped his hands closed.

"3, 2, 1…" Clara began to count down, even SHE knew the Doctor better than that.

"No!" the Doctor flailed his hands once more, spinning right on his heel to face Elizabeth, "I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my coconspirators, Soufflé Girl, Sandshoes, and Grandad!"

"Granddad?" the Warrior was quite putout by that statement, he wasn't THAT old and if the two men before him were his future selves, as he had no memory of being them in the past, then they were older than HE was.

"They're not sandshoes," the 10th Doctor sighed."

"I'm starting to get sick of the food names too Doctor," even Clara complained.

"Silence!" Elizabeth snapped, "The Tower is not to be taken lightly. Very few emerge again."

The Doctor looked over, about to try and say something more to the Judge, give her a clue, something…when the wormhole snapped shut, leaving them in the past.

~8~

The Judge blinked as the wormhole closed, "We need to go to the Tower," she glanced over at Kate who had entered the room but stood in the back, allowing her to talk to the Doctors (oh dear lord there were THREE of them now).

"Why?" Kate blinked.

"The Doctor wouldn't allow them to take them to the Tower if he didn't WANT to be there," she remarked, walking towards Kate, stopping only a foot away and doing her best not to grimace when a truly god-awful smell hit her, the smell of a Zygon she was sure, they were the only alien actively being a threat at the moment, "He wants us there too."

"Right," Kate nodded and turned, "My office is there too."

The Judge nodded behind her back, she knew very well where Kate's office was, but it appeared the Zygon using her image didn't know that.

~8~

The 10th Doctor glared at the jailer as he shoved the four of them into a cell in the Tower with a sneering, "Oi, you lot, get in there!"

"Ow!" the Warrior huffed, straightening himself and tugging on his jacket to fix it.

Clara, the only one that hadn't been manhandled just let out a sigh, this was not how she was hoping to spend her day, locked in the Tower of London and awaiting execution, but that was just a typical day, wasn't it?

The Doctor just shook his head and looked around, sifting through the straw that was scattered around the floor, "Um…what are you doing?" Clara asked him.

"Looking for something to scratch the wall with," he remarked, "Like a nail or a bit of glass or something metal…" he glanced at Clara, "Care to help?"

Clara shrugged and moved to try and help him look while the Warrior busied himself with sonicing the door, trying to determine its weakness and a way to get out.

"Three of us in one cell," the 10th Doctor whistled at the idea of it, "That's going to cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon."

"Why are we looking for a nail?" Clara whispered to the Doctor, "Is it going to help us get out of here?"

"Might just," the Doctor mumbled.

"The sonic won't work on that," the 10th Doctor called to the Warrior, making them glance over at his efforts, "It's too primitive."

"You mean it's made of wood," Clara smirked at that, well aware of the sonic's shortcoming when it came to wood.

"Shall we ask for a better quality of door so we can escape?" the Doctor tried to joke, ignoring the comment about wood.

"Ok," the 10th Doctor shook his head, knowing that them making remarks about the other wouldn't help, they needed to work out what was going on, "So the Queen of England is now a Zygon, but never mind that, why are we all together? Why are we all here? Well, me and...Chinny," he waved a hand back at the Doctor, "We were surprised. But you," his eyes narrowed at the Warrior, "You came looking for us, you knew it was going to happen. Who told you?"

The Warrior looked at the two men and two women in the room, only one woman that HE could see and no other, a blonde woman that claimed to be the interface of the Moment, leaning against one of the pillars, smirking at him.

Luckily he was saved from answering when the Doctor realized what his last self had just called him, "Oi! 'Chinny?'"

"Yeah, you do have a chin," the 10th Doctor nodded.

"You really do," Clara agreed with a smile, but held up a hand as he turned to point at her, "Found one!" she showed him the nail, moving to switch hands and hand it over to him, only to wince, "Ow!" she quickly stuck the finger she'd just pricked in her mouth.

"Oi, don't do that!" the Doctor gently gripped her wrist and pulled her finger out of her mouth, "Rusty nail pricks you and you go and stick it your finger in your mouth," he muttered, flashing the sonic over the small bit of blood forming on her finger to make sure she hadn't gotten tetanus or some other disease from the nail.

He frowned a moment and looked at the reading on his sonic, making Clara tense, "What is it? Am I gonna die or something?" she tried to joke.

The Doctor looked at her with a curious frown and back to her finger, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the blood spot away, seeing that…there was no wound, at all, not even the smallest prick.

"How'd that happen?" Clara frowned at her healed finger, "Was it the sonic?"

"No," he answered after a moment, "No, no it was um…" he shook his head, looking at her with something she couldn't place in his eyes, "It was just…it's an aftereffect of the time tunnel," he offered, closing her hand and patting it, "Should wear off in a while."

"Ok…" Clara said slowly as he gave her another long look before abruptly turning, the nail in hand, and moving to scratch something on one of the stone pillars in the room, leaving Clara to wander and observe his past selves, though his glance kept drifting to her, filled with concern and regret.

~8~

The Judge was trying her very hardest not to breathe through her nose as she sat in the car with Kate, or the Zygon appearing to be Kate, even with the windows rolled down on the car that was taking them to the Tower it was such a bad odor that she could almost not stand it. And she knew it would be worse for, as right now where she had an open window and fresh air, she'd soon be trapped IN the Tower, the closed and sealed Tower, with no fresh air and just a stinky Zygon. She tried to surreptitiously take a LARGE breath of air when they finally pulled up to the Tower and got out of the car.

"You are certain that the Doctor will be trying to send us a message?" Kate asked.

The Judge glanced at her, knowing it likely wasn't smart to tell the Zygon anything, but she needed it to believe that SHE thought the alien really was Kate, "Yeah," she nodded, "If you can find out where he was imprisoned back then, he'll probably have hidden a note or scratched out a message on the walls or something."

Kate nodded and gestured to two guards nearby to get on that as a third Guard came up to salute her, "I'm going to need access to the Black Archive," she warned it, not seeing the Judge stiffen at that behind her. The Doctor had told her about the Black Archive, Jack had told her, even Martha Jones had told her, and it was NOT a good place to be, nor was it a good thing for the Zygons to have access to.

But it couldn't be helped at the moment, everything was relying on her trying to keep the Zygon in the dark.

"Come," Kate turned and led her into the Tower, to the lower levels of it, down a few stairs and into a rather advanced hallway, metal on all sides and walls, where the only light to be seen were drifting through the vents in the ceiling, in between the vents were small circular devices that the Judge recognized as memory wiping devices, "The Black Archive," Kate continued, "Highest security rating on the planet. The entire staff have their memories wiped at the end of every shift. Automated memory filters in the ceiling," she gestured up at the devices as they reached a large, thick metal door with only one security guard sitting at the desk.

"Yes, I can see how very secure it is," the Judge remarked dryly, eyeing the single human that was responsible for keeping the door safe.

"Access, please," Kate held up a pass for clearance.

The man smiled and nodded, getting up to go unlock the door with a polite, "Ma'am."

"Atkins, isn't it?" Kate offered him a second key to the door, making the Judge roll her eyes, they were even using rather easy to copy keys?

"Yes, ma'am," the man gave another nod and stuck Kate's key in the door as well, "First day here."

"Been here ten years," Kate whispered to the Judge.

"Never would have guessed after you mentioned no one remembers being here even a day," the Judge muttered sarcastically.

Atkins opened the door and stepped to the side to allow them in, sealing the door behind them to reveal that the Black Archive was rather more like an enormous warehouse filled with artifacts and alien tech.

"Please tell me there's something more than just a lock and key that protects this place," the Judge gave her a look, Zygon or not, it had Kate's knowledge.

"Can't afford electronic security down here," Kate shrugged, "Got to keep the Doctor out."

The Judge only barely managed to refrain from reminding the woman/Zygon that the sonic COULD open a lock, but not about to risk it (or Kate) changing that now, it might be useful to know later when the Doctor, she was sure, would want to remove all of this from the Archive and dispose of it properly.

"The whole of the Tower is TARDIS-proofed," Kate added, "He really wouldn't approve of the collection."

"Hold on," the Judge frowned, catching sight of a picture of Clara on a board that seemed to be a timeline of the Doctor's companions and the Doctor they travelled with, but not just of Clara…of her IN the Archive, "When was Clara here?!"

"She couldn't say," Kate smirked.

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek at that, reminding herself this was the Zygon and she would have to have a talk with Kate after this about wiping the minds of Torchwood operatives…even if Clara wasn't really that, she was sort of by association, through her mother and her, and it was against the policies of either organization to wipe the minds of the other's operatives.

"We have to screen all of his known associates," Kate defended, "We can't have information about the Doctor and the TARDIS falling into the wrong hands. The consequences could be disastrous."

"Don't I know it," the Judge murmured, watching Kate walk over to a small booth with glass walls and a door, one light hanging above it. She frowned, catching sight of something inside it, sitting on a small pedestal and strode over, "Is that Jack's Vortex Manipulator?" she stared at the device sitting in there, quite sure that she'd seen it on his wrist the last time they spoke.

"Indeed," Kate nodded, "Bequeathed to the UNIT archive by Captain Jack Harkness, on the occasion of his death. Well, one of them," she glanced at the Judge, "Our records indicate that the Doctor requested he do it," the Judge blinked at that, she was sure he hadn't yet but…maybe THAT was why Jack had refused to give Jenny his Manipulator, because he knew it had to be HERE for something, "No one can know we have this, not even our allies."

The Judge watched closely as Kate moved to the door and entered the small room, gesturing for her to follow, "And you think we should use THIS to go after the Doctor?"

Kate gave another nod, "I'm not sure there's enough power for a two-way trip. In any event, we don't know the activation code. The Doctor knows we have this, so he's always kept the code from us," the Judge blinked at that, or perhaps it was because he DIDN'T know the thing was there, but it seemed like Kate hadn't thought of that, "Let's hope he changes his mind," she smiled and looked down at her phone when it rang, "Yes?" she answered, "Well, if you've found it, photograph it and send it to my phone."

The Judge glanced over as she spotted Osgood and the man from the Gallery enter, but said nothing about that, instead she said, "You think the Doctor was scratching the code to the Manipulator?" she reached out and picked it up, making it seem like she was examining it.

"What else could it be?" Kate inquired, her gaze on the phone, waiting for the photo, only glancing over when she heard a knock on the window to see Osgood and the man there, "Back so soon?" she asked them and they grinned.

"And why are they here?" the Judge glanced up, subtly strapping the manipulator to her wrist, wanting to just be certain that Kate was a Zygon and hadn't just fallen into a rubbish pile when she'd gone to call someone in the Gallery.

"Oh, they've probably just finished disposing of the humans a bit early," Kate shrugged, blinking when she realized what she'd said, "Dear me! I really do get into character, don't I?"

The Judge watched, unfazed, as Kate turned into a Zygon right before her very eyes, Osgood and the scientist doing the same. She shook her head and smirked when she saw the phone ping once more, the picture viewable, "You underestimate my husband," she warned, "And how close I am to Jack," before they could even look down at the phone she slapped her hand on the manipulator and disappeared, as though she wouldn't know the code to the device she'd had to fix for Jack more times than she could count.

She smirked as she appeared in the same spot but many centuries ago, the basement of the Tower. She looked up, knowing that the Doctors and Clara were up above her, having heard the report on Kate's phone, and shook her head before hurrying down the hall to make her way upstairs, wondering how long it would take the Zygons to understand what 'GRNMO' meant on the phone.

~8~

"Why's he still scanning that?" Clara asked the Doctor quietly as she stood beside him, her arms crossed as she leaned on the column he was still scratching some sort of message out in.

The Doctor glanced up to see the Warrior was still before the door to the cell, the sonic whirring in his hand as he examined it, "He thinks he can get us out."

"But it's WOOD," Clara mumbled, she'd seen him fuss enough about things made of wood before.

"In theory," the Warrior spoke loudly, having heard them, "I can trigger an isolated sonic shift among the molecules, and the door should disintegrate."

"We'd have to calculate the exact harmonic resonance of the entire structure down to a sub-atomic level," the 10th Doctor disagreed, "Even the sonic would take years."

"No, no," the Warrior shook his head, letting out a long sigh as he realized the point in that, "The sonic would take centuries. Oh, we might as well get started," he turned, glancing around the room a moment before he spotted a bench beside the door and moved to sit upon it, "Help to pass the 'timey-wimey,'" he eyed the two men before him, trying to ignore the blonde woman smirking as she just wandered around the room, everyone but him unaware she was even there, "Do you have to talk like children?"

Clara scoffed slightly, "If you think that's bad, wait till he's actually AROUND children. He's so much worse that sometimes I think the Ju…"

The Doctor reached out and put a finger on her lips, "Come now, Clara," he gave her a slightly warning, though playfully warning, look, not wanting her to spoil the surprise he knew was coming. He could feel it, could hear the Judge in his mind, she was in the Tower and she was heading their way. He didn't want to give away to either man that she was there just yet, "I wasn't that bad."

Clara reached up and pulled his hand off her lips, giving him a look, "You were hopping up and down on a spacerock with a golden ticket over your head shouting about ice cream."

The Doctor pointed at her like he was going to argue that, but just turned back to his pillar and continued his scratching, making Clara give a smirk and nod in victory.

"What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grownup?" the Warrior eyed the two men, the idea that a future him would be hopping about and begging for ice cream was just…he couldn't imagine it, he couldn't imagine himself having that much exuberance, especially now. His children were gone, his wife was dead, his planet on the brink of destruction. The thought that he could come back from that, act like that made it hard for him to believe this man was REALLY him. He frowned a moment later, realizing that both men had actually turned to look at him, yet both seemed unable to actually hold his gaze and looked away, returning to their activities of scratching and fiddling with his sonic, "Oh, the way you both look at me. What is that? I'm trying to think of a better word than 'dread.'"

"Oh I don't think it's dread," Clara tried to make light of the situation, already able to feel the tension growing.

"It actually sort of is," the Doctor remarked under his breath, but they all heard it.

"It must be really recent for you," the 10th Doctor shook his head, finally managing to hold the Warrior's gaze for more than a few seconds, reminding himself that he'd looked Margaret the Slitheen in the eye, that he'd held a Dalek's gaze and hadn't flinched, he should be able to face himself.

The Warrior, however, seemed utterly confused to what he was speaking of, "Recent?"

"The Time War," the Doctor cleared his throat, tensing even as he scratched away, "The last day. The day you killed them all."

"The day WE killed them all," the 10th Doctor looked at him.

The Doctor winced at that, having to actually remind himself that they WERE the same people, it was just so hard. He'd come so far from that moment, put so much time and distance between them, it felt like they had to be separate people, not a past him, an entirely new and other person. He let out a breath at that, it was probably why he was in the predicament he was at the moment, with how many incarnations he had left, how much of his regenerations he'd used, to think that the man wasn't him had caused a problem for him now, "Same thing."

He had to wonder if the Judge considered them separate men. He'd met her on Gallifrey, in that incarnation, the Warrior, she'd known it was him. Had been shocked, but known. He'd told her about Karn, about why and how he'd regenerated. The Sisters had reminded him of his children, of his family, how he'd already lost two of his children but he could still save the last, save his wife, that he could end the war. HE could end it. He'd taken their offerings, but his son had died, he'd felt it, felt the regeneration taking him, and then he'd tried to find his wife, because that was their last child and she would need him, she'd feel it too and she had to be devastated like he had been. But he hadn't been able to track her, her lifesign was gone in the TARDIS scanners, and he knew she'd died as well, or thought she had. His War-self wouldn't know, or wouldn't know till years later, that the Time Lords had taken her shortly after their son had fallen, the High Council had taken her to speak to her about him and because of how heavily shielded the Main Citadel and Arcadia had been, his scans hadn't been able to track her.

He'd stolen the Moment and the High Council had been afraid of what he'd do with it, they'd taken his wife to try and get her to find him and talk to him, to stop whatever plans he had. But he'd misunderstood her disappearance to meet with the War Council as her being dead and had thought he had no reason not to activate the Moment any longer. They'd realized he'd taken the Moment and sent for her, only to have the High Council try to use the Master first, hadn't trusted that his wife would be able to do it, that her extra regenerations hadn't taken yet, they'd failed just as the Judge had reached the War Council, and by then, he'd thought she was truly dead.

She had gone from one heavily shielded place to another to a WAR TARDIS that was next to invisible to a regular TARDIS. He hadn't known she was alive till Torchwood, till the Ghost Shift, and he really did want to see the looks on both his faces when they saw her with him in a few moments. His last self to see that she was travelling with him and his War-Self to see she was alive.

The Warrior's expression grew harder at that, at hearing from them that he HAD used the Moment, that he apparently HAD killed them all…

"It's history for them," the blonde woman's voice drifted over to him, making her look up at her.

She had curly hair, her clothes white and gray, futuristic to humans he was sure but appearing rather commonplace on Gallifrey, if white instead of the typical red the Time Lords favored wearing. Her eyes were dark and she seemed to know him, but it was likely just because the Interface was mildly telepathic, meant to connect to the person wielding it. She claimed she'd taken the image of someone that would be important to him one day.

He had to wonder if she'd gotten it wrong, she seemed to have issues with tenses and working out timelines.

Maybe it was someone's past image that she'd taken, because the only person he could think of that she'd take the form of was his wife. He knew that with the bloody war he'd likely missed an incarnation or two.

If she'd taken the shape of his daughter, any of her incarnations, he'd find a way to kill the woman, interface or not, no one took the form of his dead daughter, no one.

"All decided," the woman, the Interface, sighed, reaching out a hand to rest it on a pillar behind the 10th Doctor, using it to swing forward slightly, "They think their future is real, they don't know it's still up to you."

The Warrior frowned at that, how could it still be up to him if it already happened with them? He knew there were some tricks, that sometimes knowing the future was what let you change it. But other times, especially in the personal life of a time traveler, changing something like this would have enormous consequences. If he had used the Moment in their past, he would have to use it in his future. And he HAD used it…hadn't he?

"I don't talk about it," he frowned at that, realizing with horror that he'd have to get them to talk about it, to actually say that they'd used it or else he'd be forced to do the same.

"You're _not_ talking about it," the 10th Doctor cast him an odd glance, shooting a quick look to Clara and the Doctor as well, confused, "There's no one else here."

"Go on," he nearly jumped when he heard the Interface speak from right beside him, now sitting on the bench with only an inch separating them, "Ask them. Ask them what you need to know."

He swallowed hard at that, hesitating a moment, not sure if he actually WANTED to know, whether he needed to know or not, "Did you ever count?"

"Count what?" the Doctor's voice was slightly muffled, what with his back to him.

"How many children there were on Gallifrey that day."

Both men froze in their workings, Clara's eyes widening in shock that he'd dare bring that up, her attention shifting right to her Doctor, knowing how much children meant to him and the Judge, how much they both wanted to protect them…to have the man bring up THAT was truly a cruel thing to inquire.

The Doctor took a breath, trying his level best to force all the emotion out of his voice, because the thought of it, the thought of what he'd done to someone else's sons and daughters ate away at him every single day, "I have absolutely no idea."

The Warrior frowned, watching as the Doctor resumed his scratching, putting more force and effort and concentration into it than was strictly needed, "How old are you now?"

The Doctor looked at Clara out of the corner of his eye, "He talking to me or sandshoes?"

Clara gave him a sad smile, "You. How old ARE you now? 1200?"

The Doctor nodded at that, "And something," he sighed, "I think," before shrugging, "Unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age, that's how old I am."

"400 years older than me," the Warrior mused that fact, "And in all that time, you've never even wondered how many there were? You never once counted?"

"Why would you WANT to know that?" Clara shook her head at the Warrior, crossing her arms, shifting, feeling very uncomfortable herself to hear them talking about this, she couldn't imagine what the Doctor must be feeling…all of them actually. She was actually glad that the Judge wasn't there right now, all this talk of children wouldn't be good for her to hear.

"Tell me what would be the point?" the Doctor spun on his heel to angrily face the Warrior, wondering, yet again, if this really WAS him. How could he sit there and ask a question like that, ask about how many children he'd murdered like it was nothing? How many families had he massacred? How many of his people had he forcibly separated himself from forever?

Why would he ask himself to think of an answer he'd spent centuries striving to forget?

Unfortunately, his last self seemed to have not reached the point of wanting to forget just yet, and answered, "2.47 billion."

"You DID count!" the Warrior pointed at him, a hint of an amused laugh in his voice that made Clara frown even more.

The Doctor let out a disgusted noise, at both his past selves, and turned back to the pillar, shaking his head as he tried to scratch out the last letter of his message.

If only his other selves could let it be, "You forgot?!" the 10th Doctor snapped, glaring at the Doctor's back, "400 years? Is that all it takes?"

"I moved on," he muttered under his breath, trying his best not to stop scratching, wanting to get this message done before the Judge got there…well, that was what he was telling himself, if it happened that he just didn't want to have to face his other selves, he wasn't going to admit it.

"Where?! Where can you be now that you can forget something like that?"

"Oi," Clara stepped up, "Leave him alone. You don't know him, you don't know what he's done or where he's been, so just leave it."

"No," the 10th Doctor crossed his arms, "No, no, no. For once, I would like to know where I'm going."

The Doctor scoffed at that thought, if he had any idea how many things he'd get involved in, if he realized how much he'd put their wife through, he wouldn't be demanding that, "No. You really wouldn't."

"I don't know who you are, either of you," the Warrior half-threw his hands up in the air in surrender, "I haven't got the faintest idea."

The Interface reached out as though she wanted to touch his arm, but instead flickered in the corner of his eye to reappear standing between the two Doctors, "They're you. They're what you become if you destroy Gallifrey. The man who regrets...and the man who forgets. The moment is coming. The Moment is me, you have to decide."

"No."

"Sorry what?" Clara turned to him, having heard his murmured words and not entirely sure what he was saying 'no' to as no one but him had spoken. Was he just agreeing with himself that he really didn't know who they were? "No what?"

"Just...no!" the Warrior shook his head, a deep frown on his face as he really looked at the two men, not entirely sure if he was saying he didn't want to become them, or if he didn't want to admit that his actions today would create them. He didn't want this for his future, he didn't want this for them…for anyone.

The Doctor smiled softly as he finally finished scratching, reaching out to brush a bit of dust out of the 'o' in 'GRNMO,' closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, feeling the Judge was getting closer. The Tower was large and complicated, what with the guards and other prisoners, she had to be careful and he knew she would be. But he wanted her there, he wanted her with him. Because the Warrior, his 10th self, all they were doing was reminding him how much of a sullen sod he could be when he was alone and left stewing in his own despair and sorrow.

Clara was there, yes, his companion, he wasn't really as alone as the two other men were, but…he wanted his wife. He knew it had been cruel, to return to Gallifrey after he'd lost his companions, to seek comfort from her and leave once he felt better. But she always had this way of comforting him, she was the only one he sought for it, because she was the only one that could provide it. It reminded him of when he had been ill during their marriage. He'd been so wretched, so wrecked, by the illness, and she'd stayed there, at his side, she'd nursed him back, she'd become his only source of comfort then, had proven that she COULD comfort him and just…ever since then it was like he associated getting better and being better with her. The fact that their marriage had truly begun from that one act of care, from HER actions, he just always thought of her like that, the one that made him better even though HE was the Doctor.

He let out a little laugh at that thought, how his title applied more to her when it came to their own marriage, much like how her title seemed to have applied to him with how many decisions he'd made without her and how he'd taken charge and become the voice of the law in his adventures, the one in charge…

"Is something funny?" his last self's voice cut through his thoughts, making him realize he'd laughed a little louder than he'd intended to, "Did I miss a funny thing?"

"Sorry," he turned around, seeming to shock the two men before him with how he was actually SMILING now. Clara, however, just started to smile herself, relaxing her shoulders as she saw him in a better mood, just knowing that his mind had gotten to a place of more peace and guessing just who he'd been thinking of, "It just occurred to me," he glanced at Clara but nodded at the two men, as though trying to give her a playful warning or example, "This is what I'm like when I'm alone."

The Warrior eyed the Doctor intently, trying to work out what was going on in his head that he made such a complete turn around from trying to ignore them all and not admit to anything, to smiling and joking with his companion, when the Interface flickered just behind the 10th Doctor, pulling his gaze more to her as the woman watched the 10th Doctor absently flicking the sonic up and down, "It's the same screwdriver. Same software...different case."

The Warrior opened his mouth, as though about to ask the Interface what the point of that was, to tell him something he already knew, to ask why she was focusing on the sonic when there were more important things…when it hit him, "400 years!"

"Sorry, what?" Clara blinked, startled, glancing between all three Doctors to make sure it wasn't just her that had no idea what the man was on about. Now she was starting to wish the Judge was there to explain, or at least get them to explain.

"At a software level," the Warrior seemed to ignore her, stepping more towards his future selves, pulling the sonic out of his pocket to hold it up to them in demonstration, "They're all the same device, aren't they? Same software, different case."

"Yeah," the 10th Doctor began slowly, "So..."

The Warrior beamed and laughed, spinning on his heel much like the Doctor tended to do, and striding towards the door, "So, it would take _centuries_ for the screwdriver to calculate how to disintegrate the door," he quickly flicked his sonic on, moving it along the edges of the door, getting a full scan, "Scanning the door, implanting the calculation as a permanent subroutine in the software architecture and..." he spun in a circle, actually snapping his fingers and pointing at the men, "If you really _are_ me, with your sandshoes and your dicky bow…"

"I like you," Clara cut in with a small laugh.

"And that screwdriver is still mine," the Warrior continued, though he shot a smile at Clara, "That calculation is still going on."

Clara's face scrunched a moment though, working it out, and slowly turning to the Doctors, "Then your sonics, your OLDER sonics, would have it going too!" she realized, "And it would work for you," she pointed at the Doctor, "Cos you're _400 years_ older than him!" and pointed at the Warrior.

The 10th Doctor blinked at that and quickly brought the sonic up to examine the readings, holding it to his ear to listen, "Yeah. Still going."

"Doctor?" Clara turned to her Doctor, a hopeful look on her face that she'd understood the Warrior's implication correctly. Ooh the Judge would be SO proud of her for this!

"Calculation complete!" the Doctor cheered, nodding at Clara, guessing where her mind had gone and hugging her tightly when she gave him a tight hug in congratulations.

"Same software," the Interface called softly to the Warrior, grinning widely with the other Doctors, "Different face," her gaze drifted to the door behind him, "Goes for more than just a sonic or a Doctor."

"Eh, 400 years in four seconds," the Doctor thrust his sonic in the air as though it were a sword or a trophy, widely grinning as Clara clapped beside him, "We may have our differences, which is frankly odd in the circumstances, but I tell you what, boys, we are incredibly clever!"

"Please tell me I'm hallucinating Doctor," the Judge's voice suddenly spoke and all four of them looked over to see her standing in the doorway, the door wide open, a small frown on her face as she took in all the people before her.

The Doctor cleared his throat, "Hallucinating what, pumpkin?"

The Judge shook her head at that nickname, narrowing her eyes, "That there are THREE of you."

Clara frowned at that, "Didn't you hear the other two through that wormhole thing?"

"Oh I did," the Judge nodded as the Doctor slowly started to walk over to her, "I was just hoping that it was an affect of him FINALLY driving me mad like he seems intent to do."

"I don't intend to drive you mad," the Doctor defended.

"You just hope your madness will rub off on me and that I'll start to actually enjoy your adventures."

"I'd rather you like them in your right mind," he argued, "And speaking of adventures…how did you that?" the Doctor wondered, bringing up the thing all of them were stunned by, how was she there as she was clearly in modern era clothing and how did she get the door open.

"The door was unlocked," she told him.

Clara, who had stepped past them to look at the door, spun around, "You didn't bother to check the door?" she asked, looking more at the Warrior who had been the one seemingly more intent to examine the door than the others.

"I…assumed, in a dungeon, the doors would be locked," he frowned, though his gaze was more on the Doctor and Judge as they were now hugging rather tightly.

"How'd you get here?" the Doctor pulled away, touching the Judge's cheek.

"Apparently, in our future, and Jack's past," she began, trying to make sure she got it right, knowing it would HAVE to be their future as they hadn't done it yet, but also Jack's past as Jenny had recently told them that Jack refused to give up the Vortex Manipulator to her because they'd told him not to, "We tell him to give UNIT the Vortex Manipulator," she held up her wrist to show him it.

He nodded at that, he'd actually been hoping that he could scratch in a message in the Tower to distract Kate and UNIT enough for the Judge to get to the TARDIS. It seemed it hadn't quite gone to plan if the Judge also ended up in UNIT but it worked out in the end…and now he knew why he'd one day ask a past Jack to leave the Manipulator to UNIT, so that his wife would have a way to get there when they both flubbed this attempt up. What a happy accident.

"And you knew the code to it?" the 10th Doctor stepped closer, getting an…odd sensation off of her. It was really disconcerting to be around his past and future self, it was messing with all his senses, muddling it, making it feel fuzzy. That was probably the time differential going made with not just his future but past there as well. He should have been able to sense the other two men as Time Lords, but because they were him and from such different points it was like it was creating static in his head, making it hard to really sense anything.

But this woman…there was something really weird about her.

About Clara too, but it was probably just because she was a companion and had all that background radiation, but this woman was something else.

"Of course," the Judge scoffed, "I've fixed this thing so many times that I would NEED to know the code to test it."

"YOU fixed a Vortex Manipulator?" the Warrior gaped at her, startled by that.

"Well it's a bit easier than a TARDIS," the Judge shook her head, before blinking, something hitting her, "And you have no idea who I am…do you?"

"Should we?" the 10th Doctor gave her a look.

The Judge turned to the Doctor and lifted an eyebrow at that.

"Right," the Doctor cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck, this was a bit more awkward than he'd hoped the big reveal of the Judge would be, "Um…yes, this is…Judy…"

"Judy?!" the 10th Doctor cried, his eyes wide, gaping at the Judge, his gaze flickering between her and the Doctor, recognizing the name from when he had been in Torchwood with Jack and the Judge, how he'd called her Judy as a joke, "Not…the Judge?!"

"You could have just started with that Doctor," the Judge threw the Doctor a look for that, shaking her head at how he'd gone for Judy.

"The Judge?" the Warrior breathed, his lips pulling into a line, seeming a cross between hopeful, angry, and wary. He took a single step towards the Judge, half expecting her to step back from him like the Doctors had when they first saw him, but she remained where she was, though the Doctor did wind an arm around her, "…_Carah?_" he whispered, tentative, in Gallifreyan, knowing it would be the one test to be sure it really was her.

She smiled softly at him, responding in kind, "_Hello Theta._"

The Warrior let out a breath, shaking his head and stumbling back, "_But…you DIED! Your life signs were gone!_"

"_The War Council wished to speak to me,_" she explained quietly, "_They were heavily shielded, as were the transport…_" she shook her head, "_I'm sorry you ever thought I was dead, Theta, but I…_"

"No, no, no, hold on, hold on a minute," the 10th Doctor cut in, the Warrior turning away, resting a hand on the wall to try and come to terms with the shock of it all, "YOU…" he pointed at the Judge, "Travel with HIM?" he seemed more incredulous that it was THAT incarnation she chose to spend time with, "The bowtie wearing chin with the invisible eyebrows?!"

"_Delicate_ eyebrows," the Doctor grumbled, before realizing what was being implied, "Oi!"

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek, "The me_ you_ know," she began to the 10th Doctor, "She's not ready yet. She still has more to learn and experience and grow. I…need more time around humans before I'm ready to travel time and space with them."

Clara blinked at that, hearing a hidden message in that and rounded on the Judge, "You mean you were WORSE than this before?"

It seemed impossible to believe that the Judge was even harsher and less accepting of humans than she was now.

The Judge nodded, not at all guilty about it, not at all apologetic, "It was a process."

And it was.

It had taken her…a_ long_ time, even in Torchwood, even with the team, to get use to them, to stop insulting them like she tended to do, sometimes without even meaning to. Time Lords were a proud race and their people, as a whole, tended to see the humans as babies compared to their own race, they were quite arrogant and condescending a people to other species and she could admit she was just like them. It was a flaw she had to work on, but she had over 1000 years of her personality and her upbringing of acting like that, it was difficult to crack that out of nothing. She'd been hard on the team, on Jack even, but slowly they'd proven their worth to her. The fact that they dealt with aliens on a constant made it easier to associate with them, to work with them as a more alien expert. And with it being a stable thing, one base, one location, one home, constantly, day in and day out, it was stability she needed after the War, not travelling god knew where in a box. She needed constants, she needed aliens, and Jack had been able to provide that with his team. Being around them every single day had been hard, but it had been more of them, and the Doctor hadn't been there and it hadn't been him and his companions and his TARDIS and she'd needed that after losing all of Gallifrey. She couldn't bear to be with the Doctor in that box with his humans at that point, she needed time, she needed to heal. And being in Torchwood, getting used to them day after day for years had helped, and losing them, slowly, but having time to heal, had helped her accept that she would be around the Doctor and companions when they died or ended up in situations they couldn't escape. She needed to know that she would be able to handle the loss and the death. And seeing Jack rebuild from what he lost, it had helped her get her bearings and build her strength.

She had been there during Jack's era of Torchwood Three, with Tosh and Owen and Gwen and Ianto. When he'd gotten his new team, when he'd gotten Jenny and Rex and Esther and, surprisingly, Oliver Morgenstern, one of Martha's old medical mates, she'd decided that it was time to find her own new start with the Doctor. But it had taken her time and the her that the 10th Doctor knew, she still wasn't ready just yet.

"But…you DO travel with him...with me...with us?" the 10th Doctor looked at the Judge, such a hopeful look on his face that it almost made the Judge feel guilty she hadn't joined him sooner, hadn't gone with him just after she'd saved Rose, almost.

"I do," she nodded, "_Eventually_," she added with a pointed look, telling him NOT to push her when he saw her.

The Warrior took a breath and turned back to her, "You survived?"

She nodded, "The High Council and the War Council sent me after you, but then…" she shrugged and he knew what she meant, "No more Councils…"

The Warrior swallowed hard and, before the others could blink, had strode over to her, hugging her tightly despite the Doctor's arm getting caught in the hug as it had moved to the small of her back, trying to step away but hadn't been fast enough, "You're alive," he murmured in her ear quietly, "The children…"

"Aren't."

And that was all she could bring herself to say, feeling her eyes fill with tears just knowing that. She'd felt them in the war, she'd felt them be hit, felt such a crippling pain in her soul that she knew they had to have died. It had distracted her so terribly, that thought, that pain, that realization that she'd failed to save her babies that she'd been a sitting duck to the Daleks and been hit herself, only to have the unfortunate luck to regenerate and live on each time. She shook her head and pulled back, not wanting her thoughts to go down that path, not wanting it at all.

"I still can't believe that the three of you," she cleared her throat, stepping back, the 10th Doctor watching as she instinctively stepped closer to the Doctor as he put his arm around her shoulder, making him smile to see that they were closer in the future, they were better, that she was there, "In the SAME room, didn't bother to at least check the door. And I can't even blame the human this time because you outnumber her."

"Oi!" Clara elbowed her, coming to her other side, "Even without me here I doubt they'd have checked the door."

"It should have been locked," the Warrior defended near petulantly.

"Yes, exactly!" the Doctor nodded, realizing something was off about that, "Why _wasn't _it locked?"

"Because," a familiar voice began from behind them, the five of them slowly turning to see a smirking Elizabeth sauntering up to the door, "I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping. I understand you're rather fond of this world. It's time I think you saw what's going to happen to it," she crooked her finger and turned to walk away.

All four aliens and one human glanced at each other, each concerned, before they followed, the Doctor and Judge first, the 10th Doctor with Clara, understanding without needing to be told that his future self would stick with his wife before and above his companion, and the Warrior last, the unseen Interface absently skipping beside him.

~8~

"Well," the Judge began as she looked over a small balcony and down into a deeper part of the Tower's basement where the Zygons had appeared to set up a sort of base, "I didn't see this when I was in the dungeons before."

There were scores of machinery, more 3D paintings, and Zygons walking about without their human disguises. The Doctor stepped closer to her, his hand resting on the small of her back as he too looked over the side to watch what was going on, "Well you were a bit preoccupied, sugar."

"Really Doctor?" the Judge gave him a look for that last name, shaking her head to focus back down at the Zygons at work.

"So that's a Zygon," Clara murmured, frowning in concentration at the aliens. She was trying to do that, to sort of memorize what each new alien looked like. She'd been rather overwhelmed in Akhaten, hadn't gotten a good look at the aliens around her and there were so many that she couldn't even remember one that the Doctor pointed out to her. But she wanted to try, to be able to recognize and identify aliens, to know what ones were benign and which were hostile. It was tricky though, like with Strax. Strax was a Sontaran, she knew now, his people were hostile, if a bit dim, but HE wasn't. Tricky but at least she knew how to distract a Sontaran and buy herself some time to run away, probic vent at the back of the neck.

Elizabeth nodded at that, "The Zygons lost their own world. It burned in the first days of the Time War. A new home is required."

"Why do they always want the earth?" Clara sighed, shaking her head at that and glancing at the Doctors, "I mean, don't they know by now that you two…um…four?" she squinted her eyes in question, not sure if she should say two as in just the Judge and Doctor in general, or four because they were all different Doctors, "Frequent the Earth and protect it?"

"You would assume so by now," the Judge remarked with a shrug, "Never seems to be the case. Still, keeps Torchwood and UNIT employed."

"You are mistaken," Elizabeth cut in, "They do not want the Earth. Not yet. Far too primitive. Zygons are used to a certain level of comfort."

"Commander," a hissing voice cried out, making them turn to see a lone Zygon had joined them on the balcony, glaring at the five others, "Why are these creatures here?"

Clara grimaced, seeing a sort of yellowish-green slime coating the Zygon's mouth, it was disgusting.

"Because I say they should be," Elizabeth lifted her chin, giving the Zygon a hard look, challenging it, "It is time you too were translated," she added pointedly, earning a growl from the creature.

But it abruptly turned and stalked off, down to the bottom of the base where the others were and over to a glass cube that was sitting on a small table before one of the 3D portraits, the same one the Doctor, Judge, and Clara recognized from the Gallery. It placed its hand on the cube and closed its eyes, waiting for something.

Elizabeth smiled in excitement, "Observe this. I believe you will find it fascinating."

The five shared a glance before they all moved along the edge of the balcony, leaning over slightly to watch as the cube began to hum and rattle, the Zygon itself started to fade as though it were evaporating into a smoke or into particles that were then sucked right into the painting, reasserting itself, repiecing into a shadowy figure, the same one Kate had mentioned went missing.

"So it was a Zygon in the picture," Clara blinked, it hadn't looked like one in the Gallery, but, then again, it had been a shadowy creature with a vaguely humanoid shape, could have been anything.

"It's not a picture," the Warrior tilted his head, looking more at the cube than the portrait which two other Zygons had stepped forward to move, "It's a Stasis Cube. Time Lord art, frozen instants in time, bigger on the inside but could be deployed as..."

"Suspended animation," the 10th Doctor ran a hand down his face at the prospect of that, "Oh, that's very good. The Zygons all pop inside the pictures, wait a few centuries till the planet's a bit more interesting, and then out they come."

"And the humans wouldn't be able to tell because they'd just steal others as they go to impersonate them," the Judge nodded along, "Well, most humans. Some will just think they smell rather terribly."

"You see, Clara," the Doctor called to her though he kept his gaze over the balcony, trying to count and see how many paintings there were, "They're stored in the paintings in the Under Gallery, like Cup-a-Soups. Except you add time, if you can picture that."

"I doubt even YOU could picture that dear," the Judge reached out and patted his arm, not looking at him, but squinting at the cube.

"Right," he agreed, "Forget I said Cup-a-Soups."

"And now the world is worth conquering," Clara sighed, "So the Zygons are invading the future from the past."

"Exactly!"

"And!" the 10th Doctor cheered, rounding on Elizabeth, nearly spinning on his heel as the Doctor and Warrior had done before but not quite, "Do you know why I know that you're a fake?" he sauntered over to her, grinning as though he'd worked out some fantastic mystery and got to put his deductive skills to good use, "Because you're such a bad copy. It's not just the smell, or the unconvincing hair, or the atrocious teeth, or the eyes just a bit too close together, or the breath that could stun a horse, it's because Elizabeth, the _real_ Elizabeth, would never be stupid enough to reveal her own plan. Honestly, why would you do that?"

Elizabeth seemed…very unimpressed, quite offended, and a tad murderous when she responded, "Because it's not _my_ plan, and I AM the real Elizabeth."

Clara leaned over, "You just insulted Queen Elizabeth I," she whispered to him.

"Yeah, thanks, got that," the 10th Doctor cleared his throat and stepped back, giving Elizabeth space to cross her arms and glare at him, "So...backtracking a moment, just to lend some context to my earlier remarks..."

"Alien or human, real or fake, you should NEVER insult a woman, dear," the Judge chastised him, ignoring how Clara rolled her eyes at that, she'd been insulted enough just for being a human.

"Yeah, I know," the 10th Doctor winced.

The Doctor nodded along to that, the Warrior smirking, until he realized something, "Oi! Dear?" he frowned at the Judge, more like pouted.

"He IS my husband too Doctor," she reminded him, "And…so is he," she blinked, "Oh that is really weird, I've got 3 husbands right now…" she shook her head quickly, realizing she was starting to sound like the Doctor now, getting off topic and all, and focused again, "But that's not the point, the point is that Elizabeth is the real one."

"My twin is dead in the forest," Elizabeth agreed, though her lips were pursed and her eyes were narrowed at the Judge now, reminding the Time Lady that the Doctor had said he'd warned Elizabeth he was married but she hadn't believed him…it appeared she did now and was not at all pleased to hear it confirmed, "I am accustomed to taking precautions," she hiked up her skirt and pulled a small bejeweled dagger out of a strap on her leg, "These Zygon creatures never even considered that it was me who survived, rather than their own commander. The arrogance that typifies their kind."

"Zygons?" Clara guessed, not sure if she was doing what the Judge did and generalizing all aliens or speaking specifically of one.

"Men!" Elizabeth let out in a huff.

"And you actually killed one of them?"

"Clara…" the Judge gave her a warning look that she was about to, or had, asked a bit of a stupid question.

"Right," Clara nodded, "You DID kill one, obviously you did cos you said they were dead in the forest and you've got a dagger. Sorry."

"I may have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but at the time, so did the Zygon," Elizabeth smirked at that, giving the Judge an assessing eye, as though wondering if she too had the body of a weak and feeble human or if aliens like her were made of tougher things, "The future of my kingdom is imperiled," she shook her head to focus on the real task at the moment, "Doctor," her head turned to the 10th Doctor, "Can I rely on your service?"

"Um…well…" the 10th Doctor scratched the back of his neck at that, not quite sure what Elizabeth would mean by 'service' or how far she'd take it.

"Your majesty," the Judge called lightly, "You are aware the Doctor is a traveler, yes?" Elizabeth frowned but nodded, "Would it not be more prudent to turn your needs towards someone that would be more permanently based within your kingdom?"

"Such as?"

The Judge smiled, "Captain Jack Harkness."

~8~

It hadn't quite gone to plan, convincing Elizabeth to agree that Jack would be her best option in the future, but they'd begrudgingly gotten the woman to admit that, being a traveler, the Doctor wouldn't always be there on Earth if something happened and that having someone essentially immortal and stuck on Earth would be her best bet that he'd actually BE there as it was happening. They'd told her about the specific painting to use to get him to believe it was really her and not a hoax, something of Gallifrey, of the war, and he'd know that it was the Time Lords that had given her his name. They hadn't quite realized, in the Gallery, that it wasn't the Doctor that had given Jack's name and acted as an informant, but the Judge, because she did know how dedicated Jack was to Torchwood and defending the Earth. They offered her the thought to create a secret place to store the Zygons once they were in the paintings so that the aliens could easily be found in the future, in the Gallery, and even to store other objects she or the next monarchs might come across there as well.

Well, that part HAD gone to plan, the part that hadn't was getting out of there without the 10th Doctor being forced to marry the woman. In the typical fashion of his last self, the 10th Doctor had argued against the queen's pushes to call her minister in and marry him right then and there, despite him pointing out that he DID have a wife to which she'd said the minister(/executioner) could divorce them (her father truly had left a rather bad impression in her mind of how 'easily' divorce could happen). At the threat to the Judge the 10th Doctor had ended up spouting his mouth off and ended up insulting the queen even more than he had when he thought her a Zygon and now they were all fleeing for their lives towards the 10th Doctor's TARDIS sitting in the courtyard.

"Does this happen often?" the Warrior called to his future selves, ducking as an arrow whizzed by him.

"What, the running?" Clara answered instead, "Oh yeah."

"Quickly, quickly," the 10th Doctor got the doors open and ushered them all into the box, "Right, then, back to the future!"

The Warrior blinked and frowned at how the TARDIS looked on the inside, rather different than what he was used to, the Doctor smiling in more of a fond reminiscence. The Judge was more unperturbed, not really familiar with any console interior but the TARDIS she shared with the Doctor.

"You've let this place go a bit!" the Warrior began cautiously, trying not to come across as offensive or condescending in his remark of how the room now looked even though it wasn't HIS ship or his version of the room. He had to admit it was better off than the war-beaten box HIS TARDIS's exterior looked like.

"Ah," the Doctor patted him on the shoulder as he passed with the Judge, heading for the console, "It's his grunge phase. He grows out of it."

The 10th Doctor opened his mouth, quite offended at that, but turned to stroke the rotor, "Don't you listen to them!" he spoke in a slight babyish voice, trying to reassure the box when a bell began to go off, sounding the alarms. He jumped back, grabbing Clara who was beside him to pull her back as well when the console began to spark, not wanting her to get hurt. The walls around them started to flicker and spark and warp as well, the lights turning off and then back on, the room brighter than before due to the now stark white walls with round patterns cut into it, "Ooh! The desktop is glitching."

"Three of us," the Warrior cleared his throat, "Er, four of us, from different time zones, it's trying to compensate."

"Hey, look, the round things!" the Doctor pointed out with excitement, grinning widely and seeming utterly unaffected by the glitching going on around him whereas Clara was more than a bit concerned that a ship was not working properly.

"I love the round things!" the 10th Doctor caught his excitement.

"What ARE the round things?"

"No idea."

"Because you didn't pass your pilot's exam," the Judge scoffed, "They're the roundels, they're the compartments meant for storage or circuitry coverings, sometimes they're even a scanner or monitor. You just warped the desktop so that the storage parts ended up being panels around the console instead of in the walls."

"Oh," the two future Doctors let out a long noise at that, nodding their heads slowly, as the Judge shook her head at them.

"And that," the Judge pointed at the console, moving over to where a beeping noise was coming, "Is the friction contrafibulator," she reached out to grab a switch, throwing it and causing one more spark before the desktop seemed to permanently shift to the current TARDIS, the most recent one by her and the Doctor's standards, "And now it's stable."

She might not be as up to date with the TARDIS as the Doctor, might be rubbish at panicky situations and flying it on her own and being quick about it. She WAS rather rusty having really only been in a TARDIS for her own exam, which she passed, and for the WAR TARDIS, but TARDISes were part of their society. It wasn't something they just forgot everything about, and she HAD actually studied it. She knew the basics, and she knew what other parts were, it was sometimes connecting what she knew with what she was doing that got her in trouble.

This time it was the 10th Doctor's turn to give the room a onceover, "Oh, you've redecorated!" the Doctor started to smile at that…till, "I don't like it," was added in.

"Oi!" the Doctor gave an irritated pout, "Oh, you never do!"

"Doctor," the Judge sighed.

"Yes, dumping?"

"No."

He smiled at that, "What is it?"

She took a breath, trying to resist the urge to flick him or something for the utterly ridiculous pet names he kept trying to give her, "We need to get back to UNIT. The Zygons must be out of the Gallery by now," they HAD to be, there had only been a handful in the Tower that they'd seen, "And they'll follow their leader. Osgood and that McGillop bloke were copied, but we have to deal with the one that took over Kate first."

"Kate was taken?" the Doctor frowned at that.

She nodded, "Which means they have access to the Black Archive now."

All three Doctors tensed at that, looking at each other in trepidation, which made Clara frown and shift in discomfort, seeing ALL of them giving that worried look worried her, "Um…what's the Black Archive?"

"Where the humans decided to store all the most dangerous alien artifacts that can't benefit mankind."

"And the Zygons can get to it now?" Clara swallowed, knowing it was a stupid question, the Judge had JUST said that, but…she was starting to worry now, really, properly worry.

"Yes."

"Well then," the Doctor straightened his bowtie, "Best stop them."

"We can't," the Judge shook her head, "Not with the TARDIS. They've somehow managed to 'TARDIS-Proof' it."

"Brilliant," the Doctor grumbled, before hurrying to the console with the other hims, each taking a spot as they tried to get the TARDIS to at least connect to the Archive, needing time for the TARDIS to actually get its bearings now that the desktop had stabilized the rest of the ship had to as well, they couldn't risk flying the box even close to the Archive to try and get in there on foot just yet, but they COULD at least connect to it.

The Doctor twisted a knob and static filled the room before a voice that sounded very much like Kate's deep gravelly drawl echoed around them, "…destroy London?"

"To save the world?" a second Kate spoke, and, just by what was being said, they could tell that was the REAL Kate, "Yes, I would."

"You're bluffing."

"She had better be," the Judge grumbled, moving to help the Doctors as Clara watched on, apprehensive, but she could tell that Kate was likely about to do something incredibly human and incredibly stupid.

"You really think so?" the real Kate was challenging, "Somewhere in your memory is a man called Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart. I'm his daughter."

"Go!" the 10th Doctor nodded to his future self, managing to get the audio going both ways.

"Science leads, Kate," the Doctor called instantly, patched through to them, "Is that what you meant? Is this what your father meant?"

"Doctor?" Kate had a surprised quality to her voice.

"Don't sound so surprised Kate," the Judge moved to his side, the 10th Doctor and the Warrior watching the two standing closely together, closer than either of them could remember being to their wife in a long, LONG time, "You KNOW that the Doctor gave Alister the space-time telegraph incase he ever needed a link to the TARDIS for emergencies. It goes both ways."

"And yes, we know about the Black Archive," the Doctor added, "And we know about the security protocol," he glanced at the Judge for that one, she had been the one to tell him UNIT was installing a missile underneath the Archive as a precaution. Martha Jones had told her about it, she'd reconfirmed it after the Doctor lost Donna, when Martha was asked to get rid of the Osterhagen Key, that there was still one nuclear missile buried in the earth, below the Archive and that, try as she might, Torchwood didn't have the authority to force UNIT's hand to remove it, SHE didn't have the authority, she doubted even the Doctor did. They'd just had to hope that they could prevent it ever being used, "Kate, please, please, tell me you are not about to do something unbelievably stupid!"

If the situation hadn't been so serious, the Judge probably would have thanked him for admitting humans could, sometimes, be incredibly stupid.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Kate breathed, her voice growing even softer as she ordered someone else to, "Switch it off."

"Not as sorry as you will be!" the 10th Doctor tried to help, "This is not a decision you will ever be able to live with."

The Warrior looked up at his future selves, sharing a solemn and weighed look at those words.

"I said switch it off!" Kate demanded and the feed cut to static before either of them could say another word.

"Great," the Doctor huffed, "Can't talk to her, can't get in there…TARDIS-proof, why would anyone want something TARDIS-proof?"

"How were they even able to do that?" Clara had to ask, it seemed impossible. She'd seen the TARDIS get into many, MANY places that should have been impossible, why was this different.

"Alien technology plus human stupidity," the Doctor muttered, "Trust me, it's unbeatable."

"I'll say," the Judge agreed, turning to rest her forehead on the Doctor's shoulder, not even pleased anymore that he was finally agreeing with her about the humans, just…wracking her brain to try and find some way to get them in there. There was, from what she saw, only one way into the Archive, one door, and the memory wipes, while set for human, would slow them down slightly, and then if the guard saw them alarms would go off and more locks would be put in place and it would take too long to even run there no matter how close they put the TARDIS.

"Can't we just…land nearby?" Clara tried, "Get as close as we can?"

"It would take too long to get in there," the Judge mumbled, her voice already muffled by the Doctor's arm, he turned his head to drop a kiss onto her hair.

"We don't need to land," the Warrior remarked, catching sight of one of the stasis cubes that he'd brought with him from the Zygons. They'd made sure that all the Zygons were trapped and then taken the cube so that no more could come or that they could come out or that Elizabeth would have access to that tech so early. And it made him think of something, something that just might work.

"Yeah, we do, a tiny bit," the 10th Doctor muttered, exasperated, "Try and keep up."

"No, we don't!" he cheered, "We don't. There is another way," he pointed at the cube for a moment before picking it up, grinning widely as the other Doctors started to as well, "Cup-a-Soup! …what _is_ Cup-a-Soup?"

"Never mind that!" the Doctor shouted, turning and quickly putting in a command, another thought hitting HIM now, and picking up the phone, setting it to speaker.

"McGillop," a voice spoke, the same man that had been standing in the Gallery with them when the portrait of Gallifrey had been revealed, the same man that Kate had told to answer his call before joining them, though the man had never reappeared.

"Take a look at your phone and confirm who you're talking to," he told the man quickly.

"But that's not possible. I was just..."

"You were just talking to us, we know."

"Look, McGillop, time travel," the Judge cut in, knowing if the Doctor started on about it they'd either be there for ages or it would get so convoluted that McGillop might likely hang up, "We're calling you from the future, we need you to do something."

"Yes, send the _Gallifrey Falls_ painting to the Black Archive. Understood?"

"Understood," McGillop agreed, "But why would I take it there?"

"You'll see," the Doctor grinned at the four others with him.

~8~

The Doctors stood by the doors of the TARDIS, the box having been placed into the battle of Arcadia painting, none of them making a move to really go out there, hearing the blasts sounding and the cries of the Daleks to 'exterminate!' Clara was, thankfully, over by the console, having been ordered to STAY there till they'd deemed it safe, she couldn't hear the shouts and cries. But they could.

"Never thought I'd have to live this twice," the Judge murmured, speaking what they were ALL thinking.

The Doctor reached out and took her hand, squeezing it tightly in his own, knowing where her mind had gone, their son, finding him just so near this battle, losing him. Knowing that the Moment would be coming soon. Even just the war, just the sounds of the battle and the screaming…the painting was very detailed it appeared.

"The sooner we do this, the sooner it's over," he responded, the other men nodding along.

The Warrior held the sonic tightly in his hand, before pulling the doors open and rushing out with the others.

"Exterminate!" the order came not even two seconds later, a Dalek trundling towards them, its laser arm powering up.

The men immediately turned, their sonics out, resonating together to create a sort of shield, merging together and powering each others' up to create a blast that struck out at the Dalek, sending it rolling backwards in the process of exploding and crashing through the glass of the picture frame they knew the portrait was kept int. They didn't even look at each other as they took off towards the glass, having seen the Dalek grow incredibly larger as it escaped the painting. The Doctors held back, ushering the Judge out first, even now, even in the middle of this, she came first above themselves. But they were quick about following after her, all of them stepping out and into the Black Archive, taking only a moment to assess the copious amounts of artifacts gathered within before they came to spot 2 sets of Kate, Osgoods, and McGillops gathered around a table in the middle of the room.

"Clara," the Judge called back towards the painting, knowing it was safe now that the glass had been shattered, the things that did not belong in the painting would be sucked out of it and so Clara stepped out a moment later.

"Hello," the Warrior greeted the two sets of people with a small smile, pleased his plan had worked.

"I'm the Doctor," the 10th Doctor put a hand on his chest in introduction, before gesturing at the two other men, not even realizing he was gesturing at the Warrior as well.

"Sorry about the Dalek," the Doctor winced, waving his hand as the smoke from the burning mutant reached his nose.

"Also the showing off," Clara added with a huff.

"Over 1000 years Clara, he'll never apologize for that," the Judge remarked.

"Well I have to show off," the Doctor argued, "How else am I going to impress you?"

The 10th Doctor looked over at that, finally realizing who the 'someone' that the Doctor had mentioned wanting to be impressive for was.

"Save the planet?" she offered instead, gesturing at the two Kates.

The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at her before striding towards the humans/Zygons, "Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, what in the name of sanity are you doing?"

Kate, or what was likely the human Kate, stood from the table she'd been facing her Zygon twin across from, "The countdown can only be halted at my personal command. There's nothing you can do."

The 10th Doctor shrugged at that, "Except make you both agree to halt it."

"Not even for three of you and your wife."

The Warrior frowned at that, at how easily this woman was speaking of doing this, of destroying London over all this. HE had such guilt, such regret, and such reluctance to do that to his own people and he hadn't even done it yet, and this woman was talking as though it wasn't anything. He supposed it was because she knew she'd die along with them, she wouldn't have to live with the regret that the Moment had warned HE would, "You're about to murder millions of people."

"To save billions," Kate lifted her chin, not disagreeing with that at all, "How many times have you made that calculation?"

"Once," the Judge told her, a firm note in her voice, "Once is all anyone's soul could handle and even then it tears it to pieces."

"Turned me into the man I am now," the Doctor agreed, "I'm not even sure who that is any more."

"You tell yourself it's justified," the 10th Doctor was nearly snide in that, but sounding more unbearably empathetic than he wished to be, like it was an excuse, like it was one that would only grow so old before not even the person who used it could believe it any longer, "But it's a lie. Because what I did that day was wrong. Just wrong," he moved over to the head of the table, placing his hands on the edge to lean in and look both Kates in the eye.

"Any decision made out of desperation is never ever the right one," the Judge agreed, "Any decision made out of feeling like you have nothing left to lose is worse," she reached out to take the Doctor's hand at that, knowing those were two of the main reasons he'd chosen to actually USE the Moment. He'd wanted the war over, he'd been so desperate for it to end in any way it could, and then, to lose their children and her, to think he lost them all, he had nothing but his own life left and it was meaningless without his family, he realized it then.

"And because I got it wrong," the Doctor swallowed, gripping the Judge's hand, knowing that she wasn't saying it to point fingers or place blame or make him feel guilty, but to explain why this was wrong for Kate, because it HAD been wrong for him as well, she'd gone after him to try and STOP him, and she'd been too late, "We're going to make you get it right."

Kate seemed unimpressed by that, "How?"

"Any second now, you're going to stop that countdown," the 10th Doctor informed, waving his hand between her and the other Kate, "_Both_ of you. Together."

"Then you're going to negotiate the most perfect treaty of all time," his future self nodded.

"And it will be a fair and legally binding contract for BOTH sides," the Judge added, deciding to officiate it, to be the mediator along with her husband, if there was one thing she was good at it was the law and binding documentation, laws and rules and agreements and, surprisingly, Zygon law was quite close to human law.

"And the key to perfect negotiation..."

"Besides having a Judge actually officiate it," the 10th Doctor cut in, sending a wink to the Judge.

"Yes…" the Doctor's eyes narrowed at his past self for the move, making his 10th self grin back cheekily.

"Is not knowing what side you're on," the 10th Doctor whipped out his sonic and pointed it up, the two sets of Kates, Osgoods, and McGillops looking up and realizing too late that one of the memory wiping devices was positioned on the ceiling right above them.

"So," the Doctor calmly pulled his sonic out as well, "For the next few hours, until we decide to let you out..."

"No one in this room will be able to remember if they're human..."

"Or Zygon."

"Thank god I only have to travel with one of you," the Judge muttered as the two men flashed their sonics at the device with the Warrior, if she had to put up with three Doctors, or even two, talking like that for all of eternity, she'd go absolutely stark raving mad.

Moments later though, when the sparks from the triple sonics had diminished and both Kates looked at each other in horror, they turned to the detonation, counting away on the wall, and shouted, "Cancel the detonation!"

Stopping the ticking time bomb with only 5 seconds to go.

The Doctor let out a light laugh and flipped the sonic in his hand, putting it away, "Peace in our time."

"Cut it a bit fine though dear," the Judge muttered.

"It's not fun if it's not close, peach."

The Judge just shook her head at that.

~8~

A barn on a small world near Gallifrey was NOT where either the Doctor or Judge, or even the 10th Doctor, thought they'd go next. Not now that the Zygons had been dealt with, not now that London was safe. They'd been helping the two Kates come to a negotiation that was actually quite good, had just finished up when Clara came to them, concerned about a conversation she'd had with the Warrior, especially concerned with how he'd literally disappeared. She had started to swear that the Warrior HADN'T actually seen the end of the war yet, that he hadn't done whatever it was he did that destroyed everything and that, if they hurry, they could stop him now.

The Time Lords had looked at each other for that and raced to their TARDISes to follow where the Warrior had gone, where they knew he'd be…but not for the reason Clara thought. She was hopeful they'd stop him, that her words about how the Doctor regretted it and thought he made the wrong choice would stop the Warrior doing it now. They knew it was going to happen though, it HAD to happen, because it had already happened and there was no changing that.

They just…they didn't want him to have to do this alone, they wouldn't have wanted to.

So when the TARDIS set down and the three Time Lords and Clara stepped out of them, to find themselves in a barn, the Warrior standing before the moment, his hand hovering over the big red button that would end all things, they were only slightly shocked, but more so that it had actually worked.

"I told you," Clara smiled, relieved when she saw that the Warrior hadn't pressed the button yet, "He hasn't done it yet!"

"Go away now, all of you," the Warrior commanded, not even looking over at them, unable to bear looking at the Judge, seeing what must be in her eyes to see him, her husband, do such a terrible thing, knowing it would forever alter her perception of him. To hear he'd done this was one thing, to bear witness to it was another and he couldn't ask that of her or his future selves to relive this, "This is for me."

"These events should be time locked," the 10th Doctor remarked to the others quietly, his mind drifting to all the times he'd wanted to go home, return to Gallifrey, but it had been locked away, the Moment had destroyed ever possible means to get to it at any point in time, or it should have. He could still remember Dalek Ca'an and the price it had cost him to break through this lock, "We shouldn't even be here."

"And what does that tell you," the Judge gave him a look.

"That something let us through," the Doctor answered, "We're meant to be here."

"Close," the Interface remarked, hopping up to sit on a small crate behind the Warrior, though he couldn't see her as he refused to look away from the Moment itself, "But still missing something," she paused to consider that, "Or is it someone?"

"Go back," the Warrior nearly snapped, his voice breaking, "Go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile," his hand curled into a fist a moment before flexing open and drifting onto the button to rest on it, his eyes closed, "Make it so she doesn't have to see me do this."

The Judge blinked at that, something about his words triggering something in her mind, in her thoughts as she started to look around as though grasping at an answer just at the edge of her thoughts. She knew the Warrior meant HER and not Clara, the man didn't know Clara well enough to truly and deeply care THAT much if she saw him do this, but HER on the other hand…he always did try to be the best man in her eyes, to do this would shatter that. But that wasn't it, why were his words about her not seeing this striking something in her?

She could barely hear the Doctors as they stepped closer to their past self, her mind racing, consuming her attention so that she hardly heard them talking about trying to forget the Warrior and pretend he wasn't real, wasn't the Doctor, how they weren't going to let him do this alone. She could feel her hearts racing though when they spoke of how they WERE going to do this and her mind just kept going back to the War Council and the High Council and how they ordered her and begged of her to stop him doing this. But it already happened, hadn't it? She'd already tried and failed…so why was that thought digging so hard in her?

Clara was talking, trying to stop them when she knew SHE should be trying the same, but her hand snapped to her forehead, her face scrunching as she felt like a blurry memory was forming. She got the same fuzzy feeling when the Doctor had first seen the wormhole, like it was familiar, like THAT moment, that object, was familiar but he couldn't remember where. It was happening to her now, this moment, this scene before her, it was familiar…but why?!

She hardly even noticed when the barn grew darker, when the scene around her shifted to what was happening on Gallifrey at that moment, the children and people in the middle of the war, hardly heard Clara trying to reason with the men and remind them that the man they were couldn't have done this…

God why was her head pounding?

"Never cruel or cowardly," the 10th Doctor was speaking quietly and the Judge's head snapped over at him, her eyes wide as his words echoed in her mind, she'd heard this before, heard HIM say this before…

"Never give up," the Warrior joined him, "Never give in."

"Doctor…" the Judge swallowed and stepped over, "You can't do this…"

The three men looked at her, actually startled that she was saying that, she'd been so silent through this that they'd assumed she was agreeing with their decision. But more than that, it was her JOB, it was her duty and her life on Gallifrey to ensure the rules were upheld and now she was telling them to break it?

"You're not actually suggesting that we change our own personal history?" the 10th Doctor gaped at her, that was just…SO wrong from the Judge he knew and he couldn't imagine that even travelling with HIM would make her say this.

"No, I just…" she bit the inside of her cheek, trying to find the words, trying to dull the pounding in her mind, her hands rubbing on her legs as her nerves and everything…a FEAR…hit her and her gaze snapped to her Doctor, "You don't remember what happened, do you?" she asked quietly, looking at the Doctor intently.

"I burned Gallifrey," the Doctor murmured, "I remember that. I…" he swallowed, "I had the Moment," he gestured at the object still standing in the middle of the barn, "I escaped Gallifrey, and I stood before it, my hand on that big red button and…" he closed his eyes tightly, "And then Gallifrey was gone and I was regenerating."

She eyed him, "But you don't actually remember _pushing_ the button…do you?"

He rolled his eyes, "What does it matter?"

"_Theta…it's important!_" she nearly snapped, before taking a breath and moving over to him, taking his hand, "DO you remember?" she repeated in English.

The Doctor sighed, opening his mouth to answer, before he froze, his eyes widening as he really and truly thought on that question, "No…" he breathed, sounding almost scared, "I don't…"

The Judge nodded, "I don't remember either," she let out a frightened breath, "I remember following you, I WAS following you, HERE. I remember this planet, I remember setting the controls to land…and then?" she shook her head, "The next thing I knew Gallifrey was gone and the controls were pushing me away from the planet and I…I always just thought it was the force of the Moment being activated, that it blew me farther away. I managed to locate your TARDIS and slaved mine to follow you and got a bit turned around," her head shook again, "But that's not the point, the point is…I don't remember how I went from landing…to following you."

The Doctor's eyes widened, even while his past selves and Clara appeared quite confused by the significance of it, and only one single word was spoken as the air around them started to shift in a gentle breeze as a much quieter wheezing noise sounded, a TARDIS, a WAR TARDIS, looking very much like a smaller, more compact, undisguised TARDIS with a dark gray exterior and two small, what looked like rockets or rocket fins on the side of it, started to appear.

"What?"

~8~

_"Are you really going to do this?"_

_The Judge closed her eyes as she looked at the man across from her and took a breath, "I have to," she told him, "You know what will happen if Theta's caught."_

_The man nodded, "My brother always was the constant trouble maker," he smiled smally at that, "But YOU, Carah? Could you really do it?" _

_She was debating it, ever since she'd heard the General tell her what the Moment could do, what it would do if released, if she should stop her husband. The Daleks, they wouldn't just stop at Gallifrey. If THEY fell, then no one would be able to stop the Daleks taking over everything. But if the Doctor could stop them, end the Daleks for good, even if it meant ending their people as well…wouldn't that be better for the Universe?_

_But was that really her decision, his decision to make?_

_"Would you?" she turned to look at the man that had almost been her husband, had the Doctor not stepped in his place. _

_They were friends now, the lot of them, and she was glad that the Doctor had done what he had, she loved her husband very much, even if he didn't feel the same, and she was glad to have gotten to know the man that might have been her husband as well. They were both good men, but she was more fond of HER man. Still…he knew the Doctor since he was a boy, and he was a genuinely good man. Unlike the Doctor who had run off after a year of the war and only returned near the end, his brother had been fighting through it all, had a family he'd lost as well, had seen all the horrors of it and she'd told him everything the High Council was planning with the Master and the Final Sanction and…_

_He wasn't the Doctor, he wasn't a man that had spent more time off Gallifrey than living on it, he wasn't a man that felt the need to fix every single thing around him. He was just a man, a Time Lord, a father, a soldier…_

_He was objective, and she needed that._

_Because while the Doctor had come home to see her and the children, he didn't often stop by to see his own siblings and their families and others._

_"Do YOU think it would be worth it?" she moved to sit beside him, "The Moment? After all this?" she gestured around._

_It was bleak, where they were, the hospital, one of the few left standing. He'd been injured, severely enough that it needed attention but not so much that regeneration had set in and with the war, regenerations and incarnations were scarce and not to be wasted. There were wounded everywhere, the hospital secure and shielded but for how much longer no one knew. There were supplies running out, people in pain, not enough to tend to them, the bombs dropping outside, the war still raging and just…everything was going to hell._

_Would the Moment be the truly best way not just to end it, but to keep everyone else safe?_

_The man before her, the Doctor's brother, took a deep, pained breath, wincing as his hand came to his chest where his injury was, before he let it out and looked at her, shifting his hand to rest on hers…and nodded, "What is happening to us…I would not wish on anyone and, if we fall, that is what will be waiting for every single planet throughout the universe," he squeezed her hand, "But…" he swallowed, "I don't want Theta to be alone."_

_She nodded, "I never planned to let him do this alone."_

_He smirked at her slightly, the same cheeky grin his brother had, "You never planned to let him do it at all, did you?" he asked, "I heard how you sounded when you mentioned the Moment. You were planning to find him and stop him…so you could do it yourself," he squeezed her hand again, "So he wouldn't have to."_

_She looked down, not denying that, "There's still time," she murmured._

_"There isn't," his brother shook his head, "If I know my brother, he'll be flying out to do it, not wasting any time at all. If you mean to do this, Carah, if you truly mean to help him and…and be there for him, you need to leave. Now. Because you may not be able to stop him and take his place, he'll fight you tooth and nail to keep it from being all on you. But you can at least be there with him, share his burden."_

_She nodded, "I'm so sorry Kappa."_

_"Don't be," he offered her a smile, despite the fact his own children were dead as well, that his wife had departed too, he still smiled to know that no one in the universe would have to experience that, experience this hell, at the hands of the Daleks now, "It's…the war has turned us into monsters," he admitted, "Perhaps this will redeem our tainted souls."_

_She gently squeezed his hand once more, before getting up and stepping out of the ward, to a small stairwell she'd hidden her WAR TARDIS in, and entered. She moved to the console with purpose, looking at where the controls had locked onto the Doctor's TARDIS, more so the Doctor's life sign a good distance away from that damned box, and began to set the coordinates to take her to her husband._

~8~

"What?" the 10th Doctor gaped as the WAR TARDIS solidified and the doors flew open.

"_Theta!_" the Judge, another Judge, a different Judge, cried in Gallifreyan, not having expected anyone else to be there that would understand her, not expecting to need to speak in English to anyone, "_Wait please, let me…_" she trailed off, stopped short when she noticed it wasn't just her Doctor there, but two others and…what appeared to be another her and a human as well, "_Help…_"

"What?!"

She ignored the her gaze turned to her Doctor, the aged man standing shocked beside the Moment, and ran to him, throwing her arms around him as he caught her, "_Theta…_" she breathed into the Warrior's ear, hugging him tightly.

"_Carah?!_" the Warrior sounded so utterly stunned and surprised and in disbelief that it almost broke their hearts. He knew that his wife had survived, the proof was there in the Judge that had come with the Doctor, but to have HIS Judge in his arms…he pulled away and looked at her, examining her, making sure it was her. She was older, with slight wrinkles, just ever so slight, cheekbones and brown hair, as she always seemed to have, that was a little fluffier but still went to her shoulders, she was never fond of long hair. It was held back though, in a tight bun, her clothes the same red and padded garb of the soldiers, her eyes brown and full of tears as she pulled him back into her arms and hugged him again, "What are you doing here?"

The War-Judge pulled back, touching his cheek, "I couldn't let you do this alone…"

"And I can't let you do this at all," the Doctor called, grinning widely not just to be able to prevent his past self from doing this, but his wife from being a part of it as well, flicking the sonic that he'd snuck out of his pocket at the Moment to decompress it, closing it back up and powering it down.

"What are you doing?" the 10th Doctor frowned at that, he wanted nothing more than to prevent this happening too, but it already HAD.

"We MUST use the Moment now before it is too late," the War-Judge seemed to be agreeing, "The War is nearly at an end, the Daleks will move on and…"

"Ah but they won't," the Doctor was now positively beaming.

"Can you elaborate more dear?" the Judge asked him, she had this sinking feeling that something had happened, that SHE had gotten involved somehow, that she'd actually STOPPED the Doctor using the Moment, and when she'd appeared she'd thought that was what it was. But if she had really come to help him? She truly had no idea what the Doctor was thinking.

"Of course, lamb chop," he snapped his fingers and pointed at the Judge, before spinning his finger to the rest of them, "Think about it, think about what's in this room RIGHT now."

Clara looked around, wanting to help, not entirely sure how the War-Judge felt about humans and wanting to prove that she was better, that she'd gotten better, that she was useful, "There's 3 of you and 2 of her?" she offered.

The Warrior, War-Judge, and 10th Doctor looked at each other as the Judge's eyes widened, "Oh my god!"

"Was I right?" Clara held back a smile.

"Clara that was perfect!"

Now it was Clara's turn to beam at the compliment from the Judge.

"Oh!" the Warrior gasped, "Oh! Oh, yes, that is good! That is brilliant!"

"Oh, oh, oh!" the 10th Doctor started to hop up and down, feeling that same excitement, "I'm getting that too, that is brilliant!"

"What does there being more of us have to do with anything?" the War-Judge asked, frowning, "The Moment…"

"The Moment showed me the future," the Warrior merely turned to her and pulled her to him, hugging him tightly, "Oh she didn't just show me any old future, she showed me exactly the future I needed to see!"

"Who did?" the War-Judge shook her head, "Doctor have you finally gone mad?"

"The Bad Wolf," he laughed.

The War-Judge shook her head, "You've completely lost your mind."

"Sorry, did you say, the 'Bad Wolf?'" the 10th Doctor turned to him, as though the name meant something more to him as well.

"Have ALL of you lost your minds?!" the War-Judge shouted over their exuberance, "The War is raging, people are dying, the Daleks are winning and…"

"Yes, they are," the Judge agreed with herself, "And that's exactly what we need."

"The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey, firing on it constantly," the Warrior turned to his Judge to explain, knowing that she didn't have as much experience with all this time travel and tech as he did.

"The Sky Trench is still holding, right?" the 10th Doctor pointed at the War-Judge who nodded, "So what if the whole planet...just disappeared?"

"The Daleks, they'd end up firing at_ each other_!" the Doctor cheered.

"And the crossfire would destroy them," the Judge nodded.

"But Gallifrey…" the War-Judge shook her head, just wanting to focus on Gallifrey, the Daleks would be gone, fine, ok, but what about their home?

"Gallifrey would be gone," the Warrior reminded her, "The Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the universe as if they'd annihilated each other!"

"Yes, but Gallifrey!" she snapped, "What would happen to our home?"

The men fell silent at that, leaving the Judge to answer, "It would be frozen in time, somewhere, and hidden from us all."

"So we'd still lose our home," the War-Judge breathed and they could only nod solemnly. She closed her eyes till she felt the Warrior take her hand, "At least they would still be alive somewhere," she swallowed hard, that was the only concession in this.

It was like activating the Moment, but their planet would be safe and, even if they'd be lost forever, they would still be alive.

~8~

The Doctor and the Judge were racing around the controls of the TARDIS, when they finally got the monitor to connect with the Warrior's TARDIS, following the patch to Gallifrey, to the War Room, allowing them to see the Time Lords, the General that had contacted the Judge, and another man rushing about, under siege, "Hello, hello!" the Doctor called, getting their attention as a holographic window opened in the room, allowing them to see everything, "Gallifrey High Command, this is the Doctor and the Judge speaking."

"Hello!" another window popped up on their monitor, dividing the screen, though they knew it was likely just another hologram in the War Room, the 10th Doctor and Clara there as well, Clara helping him to pilot his ship more effectively than just by himself, "Also the Doctor along with Miss Clara Oswald," he smiled at Clara as she waved, "Can you hear us?"

"Also the Doctor," the screen split again as the Warrior and War-Judge appeared, "Standing ready."

They had wanted to use the WAR TARDIS to help, but for what they were planning to do, it had to be the same TARDIS at different points in time, not whatever was available. Like the sonic, it had to be the same software even if it had a different case.

"Dear God, three of them!" the general seemed utterly and completely horrified by the image of the three of them, "All my worst nightmares at once!"

"You may want to hear what they have to say first," the Judge warned, "They have a plan to save you all."

"We should point out, at this moment, it is a fairly terrible plan," the Doctor had to add.

"And almost certainly won't work," the 10th Doctor agreed.

"Yes, because that's how you get someone to HELP you," the War-Judge muttered, adding something about completely lost his mind under her breath.

"We're flying our three TARDISes into your lower atmosphere," the Doctor continued, ignoring that.

"We're positioned at equidistant intervals round the globe," the 10th Doctor informed, "'Equidistant,'" he grinned, "So grown-up!"

"Focus, Doctor," Clara nudged him.

But even the Warrior seemed in such high spirits that he didn't even grumble about that, "We're just about ready to do it."

The General seemed hesitant to ask, "Ready to do what?"

The Judge and Doctor glanced at each other before she turned to them, "We're not going to use the Moment…but we need to freeze Gallifrey."

"I'm sorry, what?!"

"We're going to use the TARDISes to lock Gallifrey in Stasis. The whole planet, everything and everyone."

"What?! Even if that were possible, which it isn't, why would you do such a thing?"

"Because the alternative is burning," the Doctor answered, such solemnity in his voice.

"And I've…we've," the 10th Doctor's gaze flickered to the Judges' as well, "Seen that."

"Or so we think," the Judge added, now that this was how it was going, it left them wondering if this was how it had ALWAYS gone, "We'd rather not find out."

"But to lock a planet in stasis means to displace it," the General argued, "We'd be lost in another universe...frozen in a single moment. We'd have nothing."

"You'd have each other," Clara offered, "You'd have your planet and your people and your safety and your lives. Isn't that something?"

"More so…you'd have hope," the War-Judge reminded, her voice going gravelly with emotion.

"It's delusional," the general spat, "The calculations alone would take...hundreds of years!"

The Doctors smirked at that, having encountered a situation fairly recently where hundreds of years went by in mere seconds, "Oh, hundreds and hundreds," the Doctor laughed.

"But don't worry, I started a very long time ago!" the 10th Doctor winked as the image on the monitor shifted.

Instead of just being split in three, now there were more and more squares, smaller and smaller as not just one but ALL the Doctor's past incarnations appeared, his first, right though his eighth, his ninth appearing too, all of them calling out to each other for help, receiving the call the WAR TARDIS had put out to the others, all of them with the same calculations that had been done by the Warrior's TARDIS and ended up in the Doctor's, all of it shared, all of it the same software with a different case.

"You might say, I've been doing this all my lives!" the Doctor whooped.

"He looks a bit ill, love," the Judge nodded at the general who was gaping in utter terror at the screen, as though his absolute worst fears had been forced in front of his eyes.

"Well it's a good thing the Doctors are in," the Doctor laughed, kissing her cheek, "Isn't it, peanut?"

"Don't call me peanut," the Judge warned, though she was smiling, thrilled at the idea that they might just save Gallifrey instead of burn it.

"I didn't know when I was well off!" the general actually sounded ill now, "All 12 of them!"

"No sir," an unfamiliar voice chimed in, the screen splitting one more time, only revealing a set of rather angry eyes with bushy eyebrows to match, "All 13!"

The Judges and Doctors looked at each other for that, this day was just full of surprises, for the past Doctors to meet the current/future one, and now the current to see his future self.

"But how is that…" the Judge shook her head, not wanting to say it out loud. The Warrior still had no idea that he'd waste a regeneration due to vanity.

That last Doctor shouldn't exist…

There was a blast that went off on the screen, the War Room shaking as it was hit by Dalek fire, causing them to push the question aside and focus on the here and now, "Sir!" the man beside the General cried out a warning, "The Daleks know that something is happening. They're increasing their fire power."

The General closed his eyes, gathering his strength to make this decision for his entire planet, "Do it, Doctor. Just do it. Do it!"

The Doctor nodded, growing impossibly serious, "Ok," he took a breath, looking at the Judge and taking her hand, kissing it quickly, before focusing back on his other selves, "Gentleman...we're ready," he reached out and put a hand on a lever, the Judge placing her hand over his.

"Geronimo?" she offered him, making him grin as they threw the lever down.

"Come on, Clara!" the 10th Doctor laughed, grabbing his own lever with Clara, "Allons-y!"

"What?" Clara giggled at that.

The Warrior rolled his eyes at that, "Oh, for God's sake!"

"Please tell me you don't have a…" the War-Judge began, her own hand on a lever as the Warrior reached out to grab it too.

He cut her off with a cry of, "Gallifrey stands!"

And, just like that, all the Doctors threw their levers in each of their TARDISes, causing an enormous burst of light to appear around Gallifrey, shining so brightly it nearly blinded them all…

Before a massive explosion went off, the pieces of Dalek scattering in space as though they'd been blasted apart…

And no planet remained behind.

~8~

The Time Lords and Ladies, and Clara, had been invited back to the Undergallery of the National Gallery by Kate, the real Kate, both in thanks for their help in negotiations and also to allow them a place to be able to breathe after what they'd all endured. And so that was how they came to be gathered before the painting of Gallifrey Falls, the Judges on either end of the line of aliens, with their Doctors beside them and the 10th Doctor in the middle, Clara rolling her eyes at them all as she sat behind them on a bench with a cup of tea in her hand, a tray full of other cups in various stages of drinking beside her.

"I don't suppose we'll ever know if we actually succeeded," the Warrior mused sadly, looking at the picture, "But at worst, we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong."

"Life and soul, you are," Clara mumbled into her tea.

"We may one day," the War-Judge countered, "Time Lords are stubborn and set in their ways…"

"You're tellin' me."

The War-Judge ignored her, "They will find some way to reach out, wanting to be found."

"What is it actually called?" the 10th Doctor squinted at the portrait, his brainy specs on, as though trying to examine it for any detail that could offer a clue.

"Well, there's some debate," the Doctor sighed, pulling off his own brainy specs, "Either _No More_ or _Gallifrey Falls_."

"Which is quite bad," the Judge tilted her head, "Names and details are very important."

"How did it get here?" the 10th Doctor shook his head, THAT was what was bothering him, because it was so clearly Gallifreyan but who could have painted that battle when moments after it the planet was gone? It was too exact to be someone's interpretation of it.

"That is the question of the century."

The Doctor smiled at that, "We really don't know."

Which made his past self smile and sigh, "There's always something we don't know, isn't there?"

"Many somethings," the War-Judge remarked, an odd note in her voice as they looked at her to see her looking at the painting with a distant look in her eye, "Many, MANY somethings…"

The two men turned to the Doctor in question but he just smiled and wound an arm around his Judge, "What do you think, sweet potato, should we tell them?"

"Just for calling me a sweeter version of a Sontaran, no," the Judge gave him a look. It was really actually starting to get tiresome the food names.

"You'll find out one day," the Doctor reassured his past selves, "And…it won't always be pretty, but it'll be things we need to know and she'll tell them to us when we need to know them, or when she can't hold it in anymore."

The 10th Doctor opened his mouth to say she shouldn't have to feel like she had to hold anything in when it came to him, but the Judge held up a hand, "Everything gets broken one day," she told them sagely, "And get built up stronger."

"And it is…stronger?" the 10th Doctor eyed them, observed them together.

"It's getting there," his future self nodded, "Slowly but surely."

"Contrary to how you tend to do everything else," the Judge teased.

The War-Judge looked over, "Gallifrey is gone then," she began, "What do we do next? What do we do when our home is gone?"

The Judge took a breath, "Find a new home."

"The TAR…" the Warrior began.

"Each of you," she cut in, "Find one and heal, and then find a home together."

The Warrior frowned at that, "We are…not together?" he'd guessed as much when he saw his one future self without the Judge but aware she was alive and then his next future self with her. He could assume something happened in between, that they'd be apart.

"You both won't remember this," the Doctor reminded them, "And you'll both be leaving in separate TARDISes," he gestured at the wall behind him where the four TARDISes, well, 1 WAR TARDIS and 3 average ones, were stationed.

The Warrior and War-Judge glanced at each other for that, something in their look telling the others that they'd already accepted that fact. After their emotional reunion, the hugs, the two had been very distant to each other, reminding the Doctors of when they'd seen the Judge again and when she'd had her first actual adventure with him. There was a chasm between them, and they both needed time to heal from the war, heal separately, before they could help heal each other more.

"Well, then," the Warrior cleared his throat, turning to look at them all, "It has been an honor...and a privilege."

"Likewise," the 10th Doctor shook his hand.

But the Doctor merely nodded, "Doctor."

"Husband," the Judge offered him a smile, making him chuckle.

"And if I grow to be half the man that you are," he glanced at Clara, "Clara Oswald, I shall be happy indeed."

Clara nodded, proud, and stood to give him a shake of the hand too, "That's right, aim high!"

The War-Judge looked on the verge of commenting, likely something about how if he aimed as high as a human he'd be taking a tumble from where he was, when the Doctor cut in quickly, "Wife," he offered the War-Judge a smile and nod.

The War-Judge just gave him a small one in return, though her lips were more pursed. The Judge knew what was going through her mind now, why she was being so distant and closed off from the Doctors after having hugged him in the barn. She was seeing, first hand, that even after the war, even after losing Gallifrey, even after finding her again, it wasn't enough for the Doctor to stop travelling with the TARDISes, to stop consorting with Humans, and that it got so bad he'd even managed to DRAG her future self into it. This her was not in a good place, she didn't want to deal with humans or travel or TARDISes, and the Doctor was proving he'd never give it up, he'd never change.

But she hadn't quite realized that she had to change as well, they had to compromise, that was what marriage was.

She'd get there eventually, but she wasn't there yet.

The Warrior sighed at that, seeming to sense that it really would be best for them to part ways for a short while, not happy about it, but understanding, "We really won't remember this? Any of it?" he didn't think he could take not knowing his wife, at the very least, was alive.

"The time streams are out of sync," the Doctor shook his head, "You can't retain it, no."

"Either of you," the Judge added with a look at her past self.

"We won't remember that we tried to save Gallifrey, rather than burn it," the Warrior let out a long sigh at that, "We'll have to live with that. But for now, for this moment..." he nodded to himself, smiling with his hands on his lapels, "I _am_ the Doctor again. Thank you." He glanced back at the War-Judge, reaching out to take her hand, "_I'll see you again, Carah, I swear it,_" he promised her, kissing her hand, "_And I won't let you go again._"

He gave one last look to her before heading to the old, beaten down TARDIS that was his, the small group watching as it disappeared before their eyes.

"He clearly breaks that promise," the War-Judge muttered, casting a look at the 10th Doctor, the one without a Judge there, "I expect as much."

She didn't bother to say another word, chose to ignore Clara's very existence, as she moved quickly for her WAR TARDIS and got in, the box dematerializing quickly and they knew the systems, still locked on the Doctor, would target the most recent dematerialization and go after him, and her story would begin.

"Sorry," the Judge offered the 10th Doctor, "She…she really does need time."

"Don't we all," the 10th Doctor nodded, "I'm gonna forget that you do come with me one day," he said, more a statement than a question, before he took a breath, "But I live in hope, even if I forget you will, I'll always hope it. And since I won't remember any of you," he slowly pulled his brainy specs off, "You might as well tell me."

"Tell you what?" the Doctor inquired, as though he didn't already know what the question was about.

"Where it is we're going that you don't want to talk about."

"It's against the laws," the Judge shook her head, something THAT specific was forbidden.

"You definitely are my wife," he laughed.

The Doctor smiled and glanced at her, "He's going to forget," he reminded her, "There's no harm in telling him," he waited though, for her to give a small, resigned nod, before he did tell himself, "I saw Trenzalore...where we're buried. We," he took a breath, taking the Judge's hand, "It seems we both die in battle among millions."

"Can't be," the 10th Doctor denied, "We can't. That's not how it's supposed to be. Not for us, and not for her," he nodded towards the Judge.

"That's how the story ends," the Doctor could only shrug at that, though his grip on the Judge's hand grew impossibly tighter, "Nothing we can do about it. Trenzalore is where you're going."

"Oh, never say nothing," he determined, his mind already racing with ways he might be able to avoid all of it, till he realized there was no point, he'd forget it all anyway in the next few moments, "Anyway..." he shook his head and spun to Clara, "Good to know my future is in safe hands. Keep a tight hold on it, Clara," he pointed at her and winked.

"On it!" Clara waved.

He nodded and looked at the Judge, "I look forward to the day I get to be with you again," he smiled, "The day you want to be with me."

"I always wanted to be with you Doctor," the Judge told him, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from adding that she'd only ever feared that he hadn't always wanted to be with her, and that was why he kept leaving her.

"And we always, always, always, wanted to be with you," the Doctor whispered to her as his past self walked to his TARDIS, "We just didn't realize it hadn't come across like that," he smiled a bit and touched her cheek, winding a piece of hair behind her ear, "And now we do, and we won't make that mistake again."

"Trenzalore," the 10th Doctor mumbled before the Judge could respond, turning to them as he was half in the door of his box, "We need a new destination, because I don't want to go," he gave them both one last nod before stepping in, the box fading away moments later.

"He always says that," the Doctor reminisced, his attention slowly turning back to the painting of Gallifrey. It was a shame that now their last memory of their home would be of this, of the fall of the last city in Gallifrey.

"Need a moment alone with your painting?" Clara called from behind them, noting how silent they had gotten, how their attention had been pulled away.

"If you're not too bothered by it Clara," the Judge offered, feeling cross between sorrow that she just wanted privacy with her husband for and wanting to tell her that clearly they DID want to be alone, and feeling a hope that their planet wasn't all lost and feeling good about that and wanting to be a little nicer to Clara, especially after her past self had nearly ignored Clara was even in the same room for most of it.

"It's no problem," Clara nodded getting up, taking the tray with her, "Oh, by the way," she added as she headed for their box, the last one standing, "There was an old man looking for you. I think it was the curator."

The Judge looked over at the Doctor, seeing a grin forming on his face and started to shake her head, "No, please tell me you're not thinking…"

"I could be a curator," he began, making her groan playfully at it, "I'd be great at curating!" he defended, poking her as he teased, "I'd be...the great curator. I could retire and we could do that. I could retire and be the curator of this place and you could help me and…"

"You know, I really think you might," a soft male voice rose up behind them, familiar even with the tinge of age that accompanied it.

The two Time Lords slowly turned and spotted a man walking towards them with a cane in hand, white hair, wrinkled, but familiar, very much the Doctor's 4th self but aged

"The both of you," he chuckled, giving the Judge a look as well.

"I never forget a face," the Doctor began.

"I never forget YOUR faces," the Judge added, smiling widely.

Which made the Curator chuckle slightly, "I know you don't, and in years to come, you might find yourself revisiting a few but just...the old favourites, eh?" he joked.

The Doctor was tempted to pull the sonic out and see who this person was, if it was really his fourth self and he was forgetting this moment too, or if it was a man that looked like him, or if it was a future him somehow. But he could tell, he was fairly certain, that it was a past him. He was getting that same fuzzy feeling in his head that he got when he'd met his 5th self as his last incarnation, and again meeting the other two now. This, it seemed, was where the time differential had gone in not making his other selves seem older, it had all coalesced on his fourth self.

The Curator nodded past them, at the painting, "You were curious about this painting, I think. I acquired it in remarkable circumstances. What do you make of the title?"

"Could you tell us which it is?" the Judge asked, wanting details.

The man laughed again, "_Gallifrey Falls No More_," he told them firmly, "What would you think that means, eh?"

The Doctor tensed, starting to buzz with hope, "That Gallifrey didn't fall. It worked. It's still out there!?"

The curator held up a hand in a move quite similar to the Judge, "I'm only a humble curator," he smiled, "I'm sure I wouldn't know."

The Doctor nodded, if it was his past self, he wouldn't know, because none of this happened to him yet, "Then where is it?"

"Really Doctor?" the Judge sighed, "The humans are rubbing off on you. If he didn't know if it was out there, how would he know WHERE to look?"

The curator nodded, agreeing and pointing at the Judge, "Now you must excuse me. Oh...you have a lot to do."

"Do we?" the Doctor latched onto that, "Is that what we're supposed to do now? Go looking for Gallifrey?"

"Oh, it's entirely up to you. Your choice. I can only tell you what I would do, if I were you...oh," he laughed, "If I were you...perhaps I WAS you, of course. Or perhaps... you are me."

"Or perhaps you went mad longer ago than I thought," the Judge mumbled, making the men chuckle.

"Congratulations," the curator looked between them, glad that they'd been able to (hopefully) save the planet in their timeline.

"Thank you very much," the Doctor reached out to shake his hand, his hope restored by the man's words.

"Or perhaps it doesn't matter either way. Who knows? Who...knows?" he swiped his finger along the side of his nose, tapping it slightly, and pointing between them with a grin.

The Doctor beamed, glancing at the portrait to the curator, to the Judge and then the TARDIS, "Come on, pancake," he called as he turned and hurried for the TARDIS, excited to possibly find Gallifrey again and wanting to start right now!

"Now I'm starting to think you're just making names up," the Judge huffed but followed after him as the Curator smiled and laughed, waving at them as they departed.

~8~

_"Clara sometimes asks me if I dream. 'Course I dream,' I tell her. 'Everybody dreams.' 'But what do you dream about?' she'll ask. 'The same thing everybody dreams about,' I tell her. "I dream about my wife,' the Judge always blushes at that, 'I dream about our past, our present. I dream about where we're going.' She always laughs at that. 'But you're not going anywhere, you're just wandering about.' That's not true. It hasn't been for a long while, since I found the Judge again, now I'm not wandering alone, I've got her with me. And I know what she wants, what she's always wanted, a home, a real and proper home, OUR home, returned. So we have a new destination now. Our journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone's. It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going, where I've always been going and hadn't even realized, not till the Judge made me see. Home, we're going home. The long way round."_

A/N: I'm sorry that this wasn't up on Tuesday :( I'd gotten home from work and was ready to finish editing it when I saw a tumblr submission that was really very upsetting and it just made it hard to even think about fanfiction. One of my readers tried to defend me on quotev with the co-author of the last plagiarizer and 2 other users and essentially was ganged up on and then threatened to be cut at the end of it (I'm not sure by who, I'm blocked from that profile so I can't see the conversation). They were incredibly upset to the point where their boyfriend messaged me about it and it just really hurt to see that one of my readers had been threatened like that over all this. I cancelled Cora's day and I just couldn't even look at this chapter :( I was also informed that a quotev user was sending mass messages to their followers about it that omitted details and made it seem like the plagiarizer's stories were only similar to mine without even offering links to my tumblr posts to choose if they thought it was plagiarism. When I proved 3 separate _series_ of mine were attributed to 3 separate stories that were posted, and it was being argued only the show dialogue was the same so I had to edit my tumblr posts to underline the non-show-dialogue parts to make it _more_ clear what I meant in how identical it is. And then I was told this same person was going to message me on tumblr anonymously to request a truce with, not the co-author, but the author. And this is all on top of my mother being diagnosed with cancer again only a couple days ago (even if it is a more minor one than what she had before, the fact that she nearly died the last time due to her medicines not mixing well makes us all on edge about the c-word when it comes to her). So it was all just very upsetting.

-sigh- I did tell them in the truce request that I had no problem if the story was reworked and posted so long as my own original lines, scenes, descriptions, and typos were gone. I also added in why I acted as I did, based on my experience with past plagiarizers (if they even read that far) -sigh- Whatever happens next, so long as their story has edited out the parts so that if I open my work side by side and it's different, I don't have issues with that if their effort is genuine. And I wish them luck on their story.

Now, _one_ more announcement before I talk about this chapter. As I cancelled Cora's day over all this (from the Star Wars Vulcan Archives), I want to make up for it and do a sort of sharing' type thing. For today and tomorrow (31st and 1st) if you ask Cora a question she'll answer, but if you as ME a question too, I'll answer that. So it'll be like Cora and I are sharing the tumblr for today and tomorrow.

For this chapter, I hope you liked the little flashbacks, I wanted to add more about what the last days of the war were like for the Judge as well :) Did you like the little cameo from her war-self? ;) I really am sorry this was so late, so I wanted to give a nice long juicy chapter to make up for it :)

And I'm going to try and get the Time of the Doctor up tomorrow. I really wanted this to be done today and start November fresh. But with all that going on between my mother's health and the threat to my reader and the messages being sent to people and just everything, it's a little much. I'm starting to agree with a theory on tumblr, the Judge is cursed lol, ever since I started writing her things have just gotten in the way and come up far more often than normal.

Still...Happy Halloween! ^-^

Some notes on reviews...

Hmm...the top 10 hardest RTD era shows to write fanfiction of...for me, I think mostly the Doctor-lite episodes, so (1) Love & Monsters, (2) Blink, (3) Turn Left, mostly because you either have to do what's going on behind the scenes, or essentially rewrite just a transcript of the episode, and I sort of feel like, without the Doctor it was a bit boring. I did love doing the behind the scenes versions, but it was harder to get through those episodes for me. I wasn't really a fan of (4) Daleks in Manhattan and (5) Evolution of the Daleks, I don't know why but they were just SO boring to me that I cursed myself for making them the first real episode-chapters that I did with Evy, I struggled with them. The Sontaran episodes of Series 4, (6) The Sontaran Stratagem and (7) The Poison Sky were just a little hard for me, I think because there was so much going on that it was like we got half the Doctor time we normally do lol. For Series 1 the Slitheen episodes were a bit odd for me too, (8) Aliens of London and (9) World War Three. I would also say, in Series 2 (10) Fear Her was slow to me, like it was meant to be suspenseful but it didn't quite come across like that :/ As a tiny bonus, Midnight is sort of like a toss up in a tie with 10, it's not quite difficult or hard to write, it's just tedious with all the repetition :)

I wasn't really a fan of One Tree Hill, so I don't think there's a story for that in the future. But you never know, I might rewatch it one day and feel differently :)


	30. The Time of the Doctor

The Time of the Doctor

"_Once, there was a planet, much like any other and unimportant. This planet sent the universe a message. A bell tolling among the stars, ringing out to all the dark corners of creation. And everybody came to see. Although no one understood the message, everyone who heard it found themselves afraid. Except for two. The ones who stayed for Christmas._"

~8~

The Judge hit a button on the console and, in a flash of light, the Doctor appeared before her, a black cloak around his shoulders, his face scrunched up along with his body in a defensive position, his one arm up to block his face which also held a Dalek eyestalk right up in front of him as well…and sighed, "You should have let ME set the coordinates Doctor. Dalek Ship?" she guessed.

He cracked open an eye to see that he was back in the TARDIS, safe from the Dalek fire he'd nearly endured. It probably wasn't the best thing to do, go waving around a Dalek eyestalk and claim peace in the middle of a Dalek ship, not the best thing at all. But he'd been investigating with the Judge, the mysterious sound, a beeping noise that had resonated everywhere, literally everywhere in time and space, and he hadn't wanted to let her go out there. One of them had to be there to keep the lines open and get the other out if things went wrong.

Handles, the Cyberman head that he'd managed to get his hands on and reprogram, was utterly useless it appeared because he'd been shouting at it to teleport him back, and instead his wife had had to.

He didn't want to let the Judge out there to face whatever was on the ship he'd told Handles to send him to in the first place. He understood his wife well enough to know that she was still in the process of trying to adapt to his adventures and how to deal with potential enemies. He didn't want to stick her in the middle of it all, and she was still a bit rusty with the TARDIS so he thought it would help to have him go out there and face the danger and let her get more reacquainted with the ship and the controls. It was a good compromise, he felt, in this situation, she got to stay in the TARDIS and not have to go out there into whatever was waiting, and HE got to have his own little adventure and know she was safe and nearby and could pull him out if it got too bad.

"Every ship I go on, they just shoot at me," the Doctor huffed, it wouldn't have mattered if it was a Dalek ship or not, every species seemed to do that to him. He reached up and unhooked his cloak, letting it drop to the ground as he made his way over to the Judge as she stood before Handles, rooted to a pole on the console, "Handles, I said, 'Put me on a ship.' I didn't say, 'Put me on a Dalek ship.' Don't put me on a Dalek ship, when I'm holding a broken bit of Dalek!" he got a bit huffy again and ended up whacking Handles with the Dalek eyestalk.

"Ok, enough of that," the Judge reached out and took the stalk from him, placing it on the console out of reach of him, "You can't expect him not to Doctor, haven't you seen the pattern?"

"What pattern?" he pouted.

She gave him a look, "You want to go in there and make a statement, so you pick some sort of trophy from a deadly enemy, the eyestalk," she gestured at it, "The Slitheen arm you stole from that museum bloke, the Sontaran gun," she shook her head, SHE knew that he'd nicked the gun from Strax when he'd gotten the Sontaran to owe him a favor, it was a sign of dishonor to have a Sontaran warrior hand over their weapon, and, without context, it came across to Sontarans that one of their own had been attacked that the weapon had been removed from their cold, dead fingers, "And each time you ended up on a Dalek ship, or a Slitheen ship, or a Sontaran ship…" she gave him a look, "Handles is assessing the tech and species what you have originates from and sends you to THAT ship."

The Doctor blinked at that, "No he isn't."

The Judge reached out and swung the monitor over to show him the record of the ships he'd been on, the ones that had all fired at him, and the 'trophies' he'd brought with him to prove he was an ally only to be seen as an enemy due to the ship he landed on. It was exactly like she'd said it was.

"Ok," he nodded slowly, "Maybe he is a bit," he reached out to pick Handles up, turning him over in his hands and pulling the sonic out to flash the robotic head with, wanting to reprogram that.

"You did not indicate a preference," Handles defended.

"And so he matched it based on tech," the Judge nodded.

"Yes, yes," the Doctor sighed, agreeing now that he looked at the sonic readings, Handles really HAD been doing that. His gaze looked up at the monitor once more, shaking his head at the list of ships he'd already visited, "They're all here, Daleks, Sontarans, Slitheen…and more," he let out a breath at that, there were still hundreds, if not thousands of ships he hadn't got to yet.

"What I don't understand is why aren't they fighting?" the Judge stepped beside him, frowning at the image on the monitor, "Half of them are here and so are their natural enemies and they're all just…waiting."

"Why?" the Doctor agreed.

"The message was received throughout the universe," Handles answered.

They rolled their eyes at that, "He sounds more human than Cyber," the Judge grumbled, of course they knew about the message, that was what had brought them all there. The question they were asking was WHY everyone seemed to be waiting and not doing anything else when half of them should be fighting each other and the Daleks should be trying to end them all.

"Yes, yes, the message, the message," even the Doctor seemed irritated by Handles's rather obvious statement, "But we can't translate it. I mean, why is everyone here if they don't understand it?"

"You're here," Handles remarked.

"Well, you know, I'm OCD and the Judge tends to just get dragged along, sorry kitten," he smiled at her, laughing when she rolled her eyes and walked to the other side of the console, he was moving onto animal names now, trying to find the one that he could use that would fit her. Hadn't quite managed to find it yet, "What's _their_ excuse? What does this message mean?"

"That IS odd," the Judge murmured, looking up at the rotor, "I thought the only thing that the TARDIS wouldn't translate was Gallifreyan, but if it was, WE would be able to understand it or recognize it."

It couldn't be that though, she knew that there were some things that the TARDIS failed to translate, like Judoon, Dor'een's language, quite a few others. The Doctor said he didn't know why that was, she was sure he'd had to have broken something or fried some part of the translation circuit. Still…Gallifreyan or not, the TARDIS should have recognized it and let them know, THEY should have recognized it even though it was just a beeping.

"Oh, no," the Doctor grumbled, pulling the Judge out of her thoughts and alerting her to the fact that the phone had been ringing for quite a while now, "And remind me I've got to patch the telephone back through the console unit," the Doctor told Handles as he set the head back down and turned to go to the doors, the phone behind the instruction panel seemed to be the only one working so far, "This is getting ridiculous."

"Attention!" Handles lit up, "Information available."

The Doctor grinned widely, spinning on his heel and dashing back down the ramp to the robot, "Ok?" he looked at it expectantly.

The Judge glanced at the door, the phone was still ringing and the Doctor seemed to have forgotten about it so she made her own way over to it, barely paying attention to how the 'information' was Handles reminding him to fix the phone and the Doctor getting all grumpy and irritated at having to explain to Handles to remind him later at an unspecified time. She opened the door and leaned out, popping the instruction panel open to grab the phone.

"Hello?" she asked. That was another sorry thing about the mixed phonelines, they couldn't get the ID tracing at the console if the phone wasn't on the console so she didn't know who was calling, if it was Jack or Jenny or UNIT or…

"Emergency," Clara gasped, "I need your help."

"Clara?" the Judge frowned, she was fairly certain it WAS Clara but her voice had gone a bit squeakier than normal in her anxiety, "What's wrong?"

"Clara?" the Doctor looked over as the Judge made her way back into the box, the phone line extending to allow her mobility as she nodded at him.

"You're my friends," Clara began, "Right?"

"The Doctor is," the Judge agreed.

"Oi!"

The Judge winced at that, more from the shrill pitch of Clara's voice than any feelings of having hurt Clara's, "I don't…DO friendship with humans much," she shrugged.

"You're friends with Jack!"

"And I've been hanging around him for…" she shook her head, "About a decade, he wore me down."

"Who wore you down?" the Doctor gave her a look that was half-pouting.

"Jack," she told him, putting her hand over the phone so Clara wouldn't hear, "He's my…friend. A human friend," before she returned to the call, "You're more…my responsibility Clara."

And she didn't mean it to be offensive though she knew that was probably how it came across. She just…humans still set her on edge, and the thought of being FRIENDS with a companion made her uncomfortable, made her feel like she was betraying her children to be that close to the ones that the Doctor chose over them. There might be strings of friendship, the stirrings of something that resembled it, but, for her, right now, Clara was more a charge to her, someone she had to look out for, was obligated to keep safe, was responsible for. They would never talk about their feelings or go out for pizza or have a girl's night together. She hadn't even done that with Tosh and Gwen, well…only once but only a short while before Tosh had been lost and that had been years after knowing them. Clara came only on Wednesdays and left, she didn't really live on the TARDIS like the other companions seemed to, she didn't see much of Clara.

She didn't feel a friendship between them but a responsibility, as much as that might hurt Clara to hear, it was bet to be honest.

"Well then it's your duty to help me out," Clara huffed though the Judge could hear an acceptance in Clara's voice, Clara was realistic, she knew that they weren't friends but to know there was at least some form of care was enough.

"And, again, what's wrong exactly?"

"I need friends. And I need them quickly."

"Why?" the Judge frowned, she was genuinely lost and, try as she might to wrack her brain for a logical explanation, she had no idea what Clara was going on about.

"Christmas dinner, me cooking, and I may have told my Aunt Linda that I was inviting some friends over too."

"So? I'm sure you have loads of friends, co-workers, other teachers…"

"Who all have families of their own to spend Christmas with."

"I'm sure you're aunt will understand."

"You've never met my Aunt Linda," Clara deadpanned, "She's already declared I don't have any friends and I'm making it up to look popular."

The Judge opened her mouth to respond when she heard the Doctor speak, a note of excitement in his voice that could NOT be good, "Handles, that's a new ship! Ok," he held up a finger to her, seeing her turn her attention on him, "We'll take the TARDIS this time."

"Please," Clara begged in the Judge's ear, "Come for Christmas dinner. Just do that for me. Come to Christmas dinner and show my aunt that I DO have friends."

"Doctor!" the Judge shouted when man, with Handles in hand, ran out the door the second the TARDIS was set down. She sighed, "Hold on just a mo Clara," she leaned over to grab the monitor, swinging it to her to see what ship they'd landed on now that the Doctor hadn't bothered to check before. And let out a scoffing laugh as she shook her head, "Cyber-ship with a Cyber-head."

"What?" Clara called.

"Nothing," the Judge sighed, glancing back when she heard an attack starting up, the Cybermen had likely just seen the head of one of their own in the Doctor's clutches.

"So will you come?"

"We may be a bit late," the Judge offered, "The Doctor's being shot at by Cybermen."

"But you'll come?" Clara latched onto the fact that it wasn't a no.

The Judge kept her eyes on the doors as the Doctor managed to dash inside and slam them shut behind him, panting, Handles with a few burn marks on him, "Yeah, we'll come," she agreed, if just for an excuse to get the Doctor away from all this a moment, he was truly having the WORST luck at the moment and…a break and food might be just what he needed, a nice distraction to keep her husband alive.

~8~

The Judge had her back to the console, allowing her to face the door as she leaned on the controls, the rotor directly behind her, which was good, that was what she wanted, the rotor between her and where the Doctor was leaving a message for a woman, Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious of the Papal Mainframe. She was there, away from him, her back to him, because of what was required to even speak to the woman like that, the head of the church. While she loved her husband and while they were working and succeeding, she hoped, in fixing their marriage…there were something she wasn't quite ready to see from him just yet.

Which explained the red flaming her cheeks and why her gaze was on the ceiling when Clara entered in a rush.

"Oh thank god you're here," Clara hurried for her, "I just…what's wrong?" she stopped short, "Your face is all red…" she frowned when the Judge glanced over her shoulder, hearing someone walking over, and quickly put a hand over her eyes, "What are you…"

"Clara!" the Doctor cheered when he stepped around the console enough to see her, his hands thrown up into the air in excitement.

Clara quickly mimicked the Judge, both in flush and hand over the eyes.

Because the Doctor was naked.

"No, stop, stop, don't move, don't do anything!" Clara pleaded, turning around so her back faced him, both hands over her eyes now, not even trusting that if she took her hands off her eyes he wouldn't find some way to get in front of her.

The Doctor looked between both women, a pout of hurt on his face, "Why, what is it? What's wrong?"

"You're naked, love," the Judge called, the Doctor looking over to see her covering her eyes but looking down now, her head bowed.

They hadn't been quite that…revealed to each other, not yet. They shared a bed yes, but they hadn't done anything like that. Kissed, yes, slept beside each other in their arms, yes. But they changed separately, they didn't see THAT much and now he was just…she felt herself blushing even more. She was slightly horrified with herself and how she felt about it. She was embarrassed a bit, to see that much of him, but…there was a little part of her that felt a thrill at it, at the small glimpses she'd gotten. He was making her feel like when they'd first been married, when they'd first caught little glimpses of each other after they'd stopped ignoring each other, the small catches here and there that helped build a more physical attraction to each other, one that had helped lead to their first child.

It was reminding her of that, making her feel like she was centuries younger again and it was…an odd feeling, to be so old now and feel like that.

"Yes," he said slowly, still not entirely certain why that was a problem, "I am naked. I wondered if you'd notice."

"Doctor, why are you naked?" Clara's voice squeaked again in mortification of having walked in on that.

The Judge shook her head, "Because he was talking to an official of the church," she offered, knowing how the Papal Mainframe worked thanks to the Doctor. One had to bear everything, expose all flaws and sins and…other things…to be able to be 'purified' and forgiven by the church, nothing could be hidden, NOTHING. And even to leave a message for them meant that their systems would scan, if the person's plea was genuine, they would have nothing to hide at all, if they were hiding something then some sort of clothing would appear.

"And now he's not," Clara reminded them.

"You're right," the Judge agreed, "Please put some clothes on dear."

The Doctor let out a huff, though he couldn't help but smirk now that they weren't looking at him, it widening when he saw the flush on the Judge's cheeks, he could have put clothes back on the moment he was finished. He could have…but he'd sort of wanted to tease the Judge just a bit…hadn't quite expected Clara to come rushing in, but it had the desired affect on the Judge. And…now that he thought about it, he had an even better idea. He chuckled lightly to himself and reached out to flick a switch on the console, shivering as a sensation washed over him, "All done," he called to them.

The women slowly lowered their hands, the Judge's eyes flying up to the ceiling again, making him grin widely, though Clara let out a sigh of relief, "Much better Doctor."

The Judge frowned in thought a moment, glancing over at Clara quickly, noting how much more at ease Clara appeared, as though she could see clothes on him now though he, and clearly the Judge, knew there was still nothing of the sort.

"Something wrong?" the Doctor smirked at her.

The Judge looked back at him, forcing her gaze to remain on his face as her eyes narrowed, "Not at all," she forced herself to say, knowing he was trying to get to her, trying to play some sort of game with her and she was NOT going to let him get to her.

He wanted to parade around naked with only Clara seeing his clothing, go ahead.

And if some humans ended up getting decked by her for looking somewhere too long, it would be his own fault.

The Doctor laughed again, "Hologram clothes," he told Clara, spinning around as he knew she'd see his typical purple suit, "Projected directly onto your visual cortex."

THAT seemed to make Clara suspicious though, "Still naked underneath?"

"Everybody's naked underneath," he shrugged, only to blink a moment later, unable to stop his gaze flicking to the Judge a moment, the woman crossing her arms over her green plaid shirt and give him a challenging look, smirking herself when he blushed a bit, likely imaging just that.

"Eugh," Clara's face scrunched up, "Don't say things like that, it's Christmas. Come and meet my family," she turned and led them out of the TARDIS, scurrying towards the Powell Estates in a quick dash as it was chilly outside and there was a sharp, biting wind in the air.

"Suppose it's a good thing you're Time Lord," the Judge remarked as they left the box, the Doctor tensing as the cold air hit him, "It's rather frigid out," she gave the Doctor's face a pat, letting him close the door behind him as she moved after Clara. And if the Doctor happened to jog quickly and hurry them up, she said nothing.

~8~

The Judge wasn't sure if she was half dreading or half intrigued by what would happen when they stepped into Clara's flat after her, spotting the girl's father, her grandmother (or so she assumed), and what had to be her Aunt Linda sitting around a table. Clara was literally the only one there that didn't see the Doctor's lack of clothing and it was quite obvious by the time they appeared before the trio that the other Oswalds were very much aware of his nudity.

"Hello, so, er, here they are," Clara grinned with excitement at being able to prove her Aunt wrong for once and, hopefully, shut her up for the rest of the dinner, "This is the Doctor and his wife, the Judge."

"Hello, the Oswalds!" the Doctor cut into anything else Clara might have wanted to add, "Hello!" he reached over across the table to shake their hands with enthusiasm, "Merry Christmas. Hello, hello!" he winked at Clara's grandmother before offering her two Gallic air kisses in greeting, "Hello, handsome," he smiled at Clara's father, pausing a moment, waiting for them to respond but only was met with awkward silence and even more awkward stairs as Clara's aunt and father tried their best not to look at him and her grandmother seemed to delight in not looking away, "Anyone for Twister?"

The Judge closed her eyes a moment, shaking her head, before she offered the Oswald's a smile, "Apologies for my husband," she told them, "He…" she tried, she really did, to find something that would explain why he was standing in the nude before them, how SHE could have let him 'leave the house' like that, and had absolutely nothing, "I've no excuse."

"No excuse for what?" Clara asked.

The Judge bit the inside of her cheek, just knowing where Clara's family's minds must have gone at her remark, that she was likely so used to the Doctor being naked that she didn't even notice now. And that was NOT the sort of thing she wanted anyone to think, that HER husband was naked around others like that. Well, besides this time, but she knew he was doing it with the purpose of trying to get a rise out of her.

He'd done the same thing in their marriage, when they'd started to actually talk and get to know each other. He'd tested what buttons to push and which to leave alone, he'd teased her and tempted her and joked with her, trying to gauge her sense of humor. Eventually it had grown less about joking with her and more about actually trying to make her smile and feel things and grow closer to her. She felt, despite it all, her hearts warm to know that they had seemed to reach something of that point again.

"His nakedness," the Judge tilted her head to Clara, giving her a tense look.

Clara grabbed her arm and turned her around, thankful that the Judge was between her and the Doctor, "He didn't do that projecty thing with his clothes on them?!"

"The fact that I just told you he's still naked in front of your family tells you what Clara?" she whispered back.

"That no one except me can see his clothes," Clara closed her eyes as well, "Oh my stars…" she turned and half pushed her off, "Get him in the kitchen!" she hissed the order, the Judge turning the Doctor to push him on, thankful that Clara was going to deal with whatever to tell her family now.

"Please tell me this wasn't some sort of tease," the Judge muttered to him as they entered the kitchen, her hands on his chest to keep pushing him back, though she felt like she already knew the answer given how he was grinning at her.

He reached out and put his hands over hers, keeping them over both his hearts, "Why would I tease you, bambi?"

Her eyes narrowed, "Is that you're way of trying to be clever and call me 'deer' instead of dear?"

"Nope," he laughed.

"Doctor, I may not understand humans, but even I know you don't just go tromping around them in less than your knickers," the Judge told him, before thinking of the one thing that would make sure he never did this again, "How would you feel if I had been the one to do this and Clara's family, her aunt and gran and father, saw me like that?"

The Doctor blinked, realizing that it hadn't just been one woman to see him, like she was implying it would have just been one man had it been her, but three, "Sorry butterfly…"

"No," the Judge shook her head, "If you're gonna apologize, you do it with my name."

He smiled, his thumbs rubbing over the backs of her hands, "I'm so sorry Carah," he told her, "I didn't think…didn't realize…" he sighed, moving her hands closer to the center of his chest, "I won't do it again."

"Good," she nodded, leaning in to give him a quick kiss, not feeling comfortable getting too closer or kissing him too long when was really very undressed.

He smiled as she pulled away, before his nose scrunched, "Do you smell raw turkey?" he inquired, looking around till he spotted the oven on, the turkey inside…completely raw, "Oh, that's never going to work, is it?"

"What's wrong?" Clara hurried into the kitchen, just catching the last part of that statement, but she quickly caught up, holding her hand up to stop the Judge commenting as she nodded, understanding what he was on about, "Do you not think it's done yet?"

"It's not cooked at all Clara," the Judge pointed out, "Is this even working?" she reached out to open the small oven, "It's not even hot…"

"Ok," Clara winced, she'd forgotten to actually set the oven to go, the turkey had been in there for ages now and she'd only just realized 5 minutes before her family showed up, "Well, use an app."

"An app?" the Doctor lifted a brow at that.

"On your screwdriver, app it."

"The oven or the turkey?" the Judge scoffed, "Neither would help."

"It doesn't do turkey," the Doctor agreed, "Nothing does turkey. You'd need a time machine," he looked back at the turkey for a moment or two, till he realized Clara had gotten unnaturally quiet without the Judge giving some sort of snide comment to drive her to it, and looked over to see Clara staring at him pointedly, "What?"

The Judge sighed, "We HAVE a time machine."

"Exactly," Clara smiled and reached in to pull the turkey out with ovenmits, if just to be careful, "Now, let's get this goose cooked!" she cheered, hurrying out of the room, leaving the Time Lords little option but to go after her.

~8~

"We should NOT be using the TARDIS like this," the Judge stated as she headed for the console, leaving the Doctor to assist Clara in carrying the turkey in. She had been hoping that, in making the Doctor realize what Clara was talking about, that he'd try to stop the girl using the TARDIS as an oven. Apparently Clara was fast for a human, had made it out of her flat and down all the stairs before they caught up to her.

"Like what?" Clara scoffed, not seeming perturbed.

Though it did mean something when even the Doctor agreed she was going too far in the use of the box, "Missed birthdays, restaurant bookings. And please just learn how to use iPlayer."

But still, he continued to lead Clara down to the underconsole, exactly where she needed to go to cook the turkey, "Ooh, vortex cooking?" she smiled, excited at the prospect.

"And that is how the human race ends up with new diseases," the Judge called down, "You think, 'ooh radiation, let me just stand right in the front of it' and then wonder why your cells go haywire," she moved to the railings and looked down at them, "Please tell me you're not actually going to feed your own family something COOKED by the time vortex."

"What, will it turn them into babies or something?" Clara glanced up at her, handing off the turkey to the Doctor to set in one of the panels.

"No, no nothing like that," the Doctor reassured her, "Though the turkey itself…it'll either come up a treat, or just possibly lay some eggs."

"Information available," Handles's computerized voice echoed, nearly making the Judge jump at how she'd forgotten it was even there, attached to the console once more.

Clara hurried up the stairs till her head peeked up to the main console level, frowning at the sight of the metal head on the pole, "What's that?"

"What does it look like Clara?" the Judge asked, with less bite in her voice than Clara was used to.

Clara rolled her eyes at that and walked up the last few steps, the Doctor behind her, making her way to the head to look at it, "Head of a Cyberman?" she guessed, having only had the one encounter with it.

"I have developed a fault," the head stated.

"The organics are all gone," the Doctor nodded at Clara's question, bopping Handles on the head, "But there's still a full set of data banks. Found it at the Maldovar market."

"It's been more trouble than it's worth though," the Judge told her, pulling a lever and sending the TARDIS off, if the time winds were going to cook the turkey, then it would have to be riled up first, and that meant transport, and, if they were going to go anywhere, they might as well check into what they'd been investigating before.

"Planet identified," Handles continued, "From analysis of message."

"Planet?" Clara looked at them.

The Judge moved the monitor around so Clara could see they'd appeared in the middle of what looked like an intergalactic gathering of ships, all hovering above a light blue planet.

"Tell us what is the planet," the Doctor looked at the robot head, moving to lean casually against the console beside it, grinning, wanting to impress, "Go on."

"Processing official designation," it spoke, "Processing…"

"See," the Judge gave him a look, "More trouble than it's worth. If we hadn't been routing some of the TARDIS power and synching up some of its scanners, the TARDIS would have told us by now…

"Gallifrey," Handles cut in.

The Time Lords tensed at that, their gazes snapping to each other at the sheer impossibility of it. They looked at the monitor, at the planet, it could NOT be Gallifrey, it was impossible, it wasn't even the same color! Gallifrey was red, this planet was not, they would KNOW their home if they saw it, whether it was shielded like this planet appeared to be or not, they would KNOW.

"What did you say?" the Doctor whispered, pushing off the console to look at the Cyber-head.

"Gallifrey."

"It can't be Gallifrey," the Judge shook her head.

"Confirmed. Planet designation, Gallifrey."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed at that, the Judge able to feel his anger rolling off him at what Handles was saying as he grabbed the head off the pole and tossed it around in his hands, holding it up to the monitor to show it the planet, "You see THAT? Gallifrey is our _home_, we know it when we see it. THAT is not Gallifrey!"

And with that, the Doctor nearly broken Handles in shoving it back onto the console before he turned to storm to the doors, throwing them open.

"Is he ok?" Clara asked the Judge quietly, having actually jumped at his shouting.

The Judge let out a breath, giving the Doctor a moment to look out the doors and gather his thoughts, knowing he just wanted to put himself together again after his outburst, "Gallifrey is home," she reminded Clara simply.

Ever since they'd met his past selves, since he'd learned about how they had likely saved Gallifrey…his thoughts had changed. He always called the TARDIS a home, all the time, ever since the war had ended, each time he brought up the box it was with the semblance and notion and understanding that it was home to him. They'd talked about it. She'd caught him actually and he'd admitted it. She'd walked into the console room after she thought they'd gone to bed, to see him racing around the console, trying to find Gallifrey, running program after program, putting in calculations, trying to find someway to track the planet. She thought it was just to see for himself that it was really saved, but he'd admitted it was something else.

It was HOME.

He'd spent so much time regretting what he'd done, ALL of it, not just the Moment he'd thought he'd used, but all the time he'd lost with her and their children, all the time away from their home in the box. He just…after the war, after the planet was gone, he'd thought of the TARDIS as his home. He HAD to, because if he focused on that, if he thought of the box as JUST his home, he wouldn't think about Gallifrey as much, he'd have no reason to. Because the TARDIS would be his home now and not Gallifrey, and if he didn't think of Gallifrey then he wouldn't feel that regret, if he didn't view the planet as home but the TARDIS instead, it would be easier to stay in the box.

But now Gallifrey was safe, it was real, it was out there, and their home could be their home again.

He'd had to focus just on the TARDIS and not Gallifrey as his home, but now their real home might be back…and to have Handles imply that it was Gallifrey, to think, for just that one moment that maybe it was? And then to be hit with the realization that it was NOT…it was hard. Because they WERE looking for Gallifrey, they really were trying and they'd had no luck yet.

She gave Clara a look to wait a moment, before she moved over to the doors, joining the Doctor as he looked down at the planet, sorrow etched on his face, "It's not Gallifrey," he murmured, "Gallifrey's gone."

"Gallifrey's just not found yet," she corrected, putting a hand on his arm.

The Doctor looked over at her, reaching up to place his hand on hers, squeezing it as they both looked out at the planet again…only for a ship to start to block their view, a very large ship that appeared to be a sort of multi-storied building, black, slightly curved as well as it lifted higher and higher, blaring out a ship's horn at them.

"What's that?" Clara walked over to them, staring at the ship.

"Papal Mainframe," the Doctor gestured at it, sighing, honestly not in the mood to have to deal with it now after that little moment, "It's like a great, big flying church. The first ship to arrive."

"You see the shield around it?" the Judge pointed out a very, very faint line that appeared to be circling the ship, and then pointed at the planet where the same shield had trapped the world, "They created it around the planet too, it's keeping everyone, even the TARDIS, from getting through it."

Clara nearly jumped back when a face blinked into view before them, a hologram forming between the two curved ends of the ship, a woman with a pale face and, what appeared to be, a raccoon line across her eyes, dark hair and sculpted features, smirking at them, "A friend of yours?"

"Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious," the Doctor seemed about to bow, but then decided on simply nodding his head at the woman's face.

"I hope her ship isn't a snogbox," the Judge mused as Tasha crooked her finger at them, much like Clara had once asked if the Doctor just crooked his finger and people jumped in his snogbox to fly away. She gave the Doctor a look, "Is it?"

"Not for me, firefly," he winked at her and the Judge rolled her eyes at that.

"Why's she want us to join her?" Clara whispered to them, not sure if the woman's face could hear them too.

"Because I asked her. Swallow this," he pulled a small capsule out of his pocket and handed it to her, the Judge wrinkling her nose at that, she'd always hated taking pills of any kind, but she'd forced herself to down one before.

Clara just reached out and took it, swallowing it whole, "What is it?"

"You ask that NOW, after you've eaten it?" the Judge gave her a look and she blushed.

"I trust you two," Clara defended, "I think, if you wanted to poison me, you'd have done it by now."

The Doctor chuckled lightly at that and patted Clara on the shoulder, "It's just your hologram projector. You can't go to church with your clothes on!"

~8~

"Doctor," the Judge began as they walked ahead of Clara down an aisle that was lined on either side by various men and women, the room itself dark and black but the aisle a bright red, the people staring ahead blankly, with Tasha Lem in the flesh standing at the end with two other men on either side of her.

"Yes?" the Doctor glanced at her.

"Do you remember how uncomfortable our wedding vows were in front of all those people when we had to kiss?"

"Yes," he nodded slowly, recalling how awkward and uncomfortable the entire ceremony had been. They'd basically been strangers and were expected to declare their love and loyalty and support to each other in front of hundreds of people they'd never met before. And then to kiss, after having barely spoken a handful of words to each other was another thing to add to that.

"This is worse."

The Doctor smiled more at that, reaching out to take her hand as they continued on. They appeared to have clothes on to each other, but they all knew that to everyone else they were as naked as they day they were born. It was making her very uneasy that people were able to see her like that, she really hadn't ended up in the situations he had, she wasn't as comfortable with some of the things that he seemed to be, because she'd never been in positions like this. So all he could do was squeeze her hand, but it was enough.

"What is this place?" Clara whispered to them, leaning forwards lightly to not have to whisper any louder than she had to.

The Doctor glanced back at her over his shoulder, "The Church of the Papal Mainframe, security hub of the known universe."

"A security church?"

"Yep. Keeping you safe in this world and the next!"

"So how exactly do we greet her then?" the Judge looked at him as they drew nearer to Tasha, "There's always ways in each religion."

"Like this," the Doctor made an over exaggerated bow to the woman the second they were close enough, "I venerate the exaltation of the Mother Superious."

One of the men beside Tasha nodded at that, accepting the greeting, "Welcome to the Church of the Papal Mainframe. Your nudity is appreciated."

"Hey, babes," Tasha smirked at him, sending him a wink.

"Babes?" the Judge turned to him, crossing her arms with her eyebrows raised.

The Doctor opened his mouth to try and explain, but instead spun back to Tasha, "Tasha, I'd like you to meet my wife…"

"The Judge?" Tasha looked at the women beside him.

The Judge seemed surprised by that and gave the Doctor a questioning look.

"_I DID tell some people that I was married,_" he offered in Gallifreyan, "_The ones that came on too strong, I told them. Because I wouldn't do that to you Carah, I really wouldn't._"

The only one he hadn't specifically told was River, because he assumed she knew he was married if she saw him so much throughout her life.

She smiled at that and looked at Tasha, "Hello," she greeted amicably, making the Doctor smile at that, pleased that she wasn't angry or hurt or shocked any longer. He had hoped that Tasha wouldn't greet him the way she always seemed to do when they spoke, once she'd found out that he was married, being part of the church she knew how much that meant, she'd completely switched off any attempts on him. They had a comfortable friendship, but she tended to call him different 'pet names' like babes and stud and others as a joking greeting.

"Still here too," Clara reminded them with a small wave to Tasha.

"Clara, this is Tasha Lem," the Doctor gave a soft chuckle as he introduced the two, "The Head of the Church of the Papal Mainframe. Tasha, this is my companion, our ward, Clara Oswald."

Tasha nodded her own greeting to Clara before glancing at the man beside her, the one who had spoken to the trio and accepted the Doctor's veneration, "We'll go to my chapel," she told him, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin to address the rest of her congregation, "All honors in place, no sacrifices required."

"She doesn't mean like…human sacrifices, does she?" Clara whispered to the Time Lords as they turned to follow Tasha out of the room, down a small hall off the side of it.

"No, no," the Doctor shook his head, "They only do that at Christmas."

Clara blinked, "Doctor…it IS Christmas."

The Doctor glanced at her, "Ah…" he nodded, remembering that, "Well, I'm sure they don't know that."

Clara and the Judge shared a look at that, shaking their heads, before the Judge focused on the Doctor once more, "I assume Tasha chose to shield the planet," she glanced at the woman, "Can you let us past?"

Tasha spun on her heel to face them as they reached a set of very large double doors, so large that they seemed to nearly take up the whole wall, the only well lit area of the hall actually, the rest filled with just pillars and some small walls, all dark, save for the doors, "I would have conditions."

"That's not a no."

Tasha smirked at that, "I have confidential matters to discuss with the Doctor though," she tilted her head to him, seeing him frowning at that, and back to the two women, "Would you...excuse us?"

The Doctor shook his head in refusal, "No, whatever you want to say to me you can say before my wife."

"And me," Clara nodded.

"And Clara," he paused to consider that statement, "Well...quite a lot of it. Probably about half, maybe a smidge...under. Actually," he winced, glancing at Clara, "Clara, would you mind waiting out here?"

"I'll stay with her," the Judge offered as she saw Tasha opening her mouth to ask her just that, "She wants to speak to you for a reason Doctor," the Judge looked at him, "And I trust you."

He smiled at that, very, very happy to know that she still did trust him even with how Tasha had greeted him, the fact that Tasha knew who she was, what she was to him, and that she was aware his wife would be right outside the doors, he knew nothing would happen in there but talking. He had told Tasha of the Judge, a fair bit actually. He would never admit it out loud, but he had actually sought out the Papal Mainframe ages ago, shortly after he'd found that his wife was alive again. He'd just…needed someone to talk to, someone to confess his many mistakes of his past, to talk about his conflicting feelings over his wife. He'd wanted her to join him on the TARDIS, wanted her to come travel with him, had considered the many ways he could convince her to do so, but had refrained from doing. He just…needed to talk, about his wife and how much he missed her but also be reassured he was doing the right thing in giving her space. And so he'd sought out the largest church, the Papal Mainframe and when the priests had found out that he was the Last Time Lord, they'd directed him to their leader, Tasha.

Tasha had had to listen to him speak of his wife for ages, not just as his confessing priest but also as a friend, as a woman, she gave him insight that he had desperately needed but never said more than she had to or made assumptions about his past, knowing that there was always more to a story than one side and that it wasn't her place to remark on that, merely to hear him out and offer a listening ear. It also meant that Tasha knew what the Judge was like, that this adventure stuff wasn't her thing, and for her to want to speak to him and just him, despite knowing that the Judge was right there, it meant that she felt there was something that would alarm his wife or make her nervous or put her off and she was trying to avoid the added stress.

He appreciated that consideration.

"Thanks lamb," the Doctor winked at her.

"No," she shook her head at that name.

He laughed and followed Tasha into her quarters, the doors shutting behind him and leaving the Judge and Clara standing in the hall.

"You really trust nothing's gonna happen?" Clara glanced at the Judge, trying to assess her thoughts, not wanting to push, but not wanting to insinuate anything either.

"Nothing happened even when the Doctor thought I was dead," the Judge shrugged, "It won't happen now that I'm alive."

Clara smiled at that, "Wish I could find a man like that."

The Judge looked over at her, "You're too young to be dating."

"I'm 26!" Clara laughed, only to hold up her hand a moment longer, "And I know, I know, to you that's baby years," she rolled her eyes, "But in human terms, I'm about 1/3 through my life! I need to start trying to find…"

The Judge turned in where she was wandering a bit to see Clara frowning at something and pointing, "Clara?"

Clara shook her head and looked over at her, "Sorry, what?"

"You were pointing at something," the Judge moved over to her side, trying to see, from her point of view, what it was, but there was nothing there, "What was it?"

"I didn't see anything," Clara told her, "I was just saying that I need to start trying to find a decent bloke and…"

"No, you didn't. You stopped talking and were just gaping like a fish."

"I thought the Doctor was the one comparing people to animals," Clara grumbled at that.

"Clara…" the Judge reached out to grab her arm, tugging the girl behind her as a thin alien stepped out from behind a pillar, tall and with a large bulbous head, small eyes and no mouth, thick fingers, dressed in some sort of black suit, "It's the Silence," the Judge breathed, recalling the Doctor had told her about it.

He'd called her after the mess with the little girl in the Astronaut suit to warn her about their existence, had called her as he was staring at a hologram of it so he could describe it to her. And because she wasn't looking at one herself, she remembered what they looked like, she knew which species it was and what it could do, she was NOT about to let it command her or Clara.

"I saw that thing…" Clara blinked at it, peeking over the Judge's shoulder as it started to walk towards them, "And then I forgot it. How does that work?"

"It's called a Silent," the Judge began to push her back, closer to the doors to Tasha's quarters, "You can only remember them while you're looking at it, the moment you look away you forget they were there."

"Confess..." the Silent started to hiss, however the sound of it became an echo, making the Judge tense, catching a glance of more Silence coming to join it, nearly surrounding them, "Confess..."

The Judge shook her head, "Get the doors open Clara," she tried to push Clara more, they were nearly up against the doors.

But Clara turned around, losing sight of the Silence, "What?"

"Open the doors!"

"Why am I…"

"Clara! Just do it!"

"Alright, alright," Clara huffed, opening the doors to Tasha's rooms and nearly toppling over as the Judge backed into her quickly, slamming the doors shut behind them.

"Judge?" the Doctor hurried over to them from where he and Tasha had been standing beside a small receiver, "What happened? Are you ok?"

"I don't remember…" the Judge blinked and looked at him, "We were in the hall, and now we're here…"

"Yeah," Clara nodded, "You were telling me to open the doors."

"I don't remember that."

The Doctor looked at her closely, his eyes searching hers a moment before he glanced at the doors and back to Tasha, seeing the woman lift her chin in a sign that she would not answer questions about it. He rubbed his head, not even needing to guess what was likely on the other side of that door and the notion alone of what species it was was enough to put him on edge and make him want to get out of there.

"Tasha, about letting us on the planet," the Doctor gave the woman a pointed look.

Tasha raised her chin even more, but gave a short nod, turning to lead them to the back of the room where there was some sort of odd contraption, a series of control banks with two booths on either side of it, tall booths that looked like confessionals, with a cloth door, "Right, this is my personal teleport. I can put you down just outside the town. Find the source of the message and report back to me in one hour," she moved to the left confessional, pulling back the cloth to allow Clara into one while the Doctor did the same on the other side for the Judge, "And on your life, Doctor," she stepped closer to him, pointing a warning finger at him, her eyes narrowing into mere slits, "You will cause _no_ trouble down there."

"When do I?" the Doctor rolled his eyes at the question, stepping in to join the Judge, though he peeked out to point at Tasha, "Don't answer that."

"Always," the Judge replied instead, a moment before the curtain was thrown open and Tasha held out an expectant hand to the Doctor.

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot," Tasha was on the verge of sneering, "Everyone in this church is trained to see straight through holograms. Give now. You are taking no technology of any kind down there."

The Doctor pouted at that but slapped the key to the TARDIS into Tasha's hand, "What can I do with a key?" he turned to the Judge and held up a finger, "Don't answer that."

So Tasha answered instead, "You could summon your TARDIS."

"The TARDIS doesn't work by remote," the Doctor taunted, as though he were speaking to a child and explaining something that they ought to know better about, blinking a second later as he looked at the Judge, "I'm starting to sound like you."

Tasha smirked at that, amused, and stepped back with the key gripped tightly in her hand, over to the controls, "Remember. I want you back in one hour."

~8~

The trio blinked rapidly as, instead of the dark confessionals they were now standing in a semi-dark forest, surrounded by snow…naked save for their holographic clothing…not a good combination. Well, not a good combination for Clara mostly, being Time Lords they were a bit more adept at enduring extreme weather.

"Oh, cold, very cold!" Clara instantly started shaking, wrapping her arms around herself, her teeth chattering in the frigid air.

"There should be a heat shield in the hologram," the Judge called to her, "It'll start in a mo, just let it trigger first."

"Yes," the Doctor snapped a finger and pointed at Clara, "Just give it a mo to kick in," he nodded, looking around them and spotting a small village down the hill they were standing on, illuminated in a soft golden light from inside the buildings, "So, sweet little town covered in snow, half the universe in terror. Why? Why?"

"Oh, my God!" Clara gasped.

The Judge spun to face her, "What is it?" she asked quickly, thinking that Clara was about to be attacked or something, usually the girl said 'oh my stars' when she was more in awe or shock, 'oh my god' was more for alarm.

"There's something under the snow there," she pointed, squinting through the darkness, able to make out what looked like an arm sticking out of the crisp white snow.

"Is that an arm?" the Judge squinted as well, starting to think she may need to actually borrow Amy's reading glasses from the Doctor at some point, her eyes weren't what they used to be.

"I dunno," Clara stepped towards it cautiously, "Looks like…stone? It is! It's only a stat…ow!" Clara winced as the Judge unceremoniously yanked her back by the elbow, "What was that for!?"

"Don't touch it Clara!" the Judge warned, having seen her reaching out to try and touch it, "Think. Why would anyone bury a statue out here? There's no reason at all. Which means the statue was here on its own."

"A statue just walked over here on its own and thought, 'gee, I'd like a nice sit down in the middle of a snow storm?'" Clara gave her a look.

"No," the Doctor agreed, "A statue doing that is impossible," he nodded, "But a Weeping Angel…"

The two Time Lords looked over when they realized they'd both looked away, nearly jumping back when they saw that there wasn't just an arm sticking up from the snow, but the top half of a Weeping Angel, its hands braced on either side of it as though it were pulling itself out.

"Keep your eyes on that Clara!" the Judge ordered, doing just that.

"Keep looking at it," the Doctor turned frantic, "Don't look away! Don't even..." he stepped back, trying to guide them back, away from the Angel, glancing behind him to make sure that there were none hiding behind them, "Blink!"

"What is it?" Clara whispered, now understanding that this was serious.

"There is a Weeping Angel under the snow. Looks like a statue, isn't a statue," he kept them moving back, "Just…keep backing up and…"

But was cut off suddenly when he failed to realize there wasn't any more hill behind him, sending the three of them toppling down it, rolling and tossing through the snow and twigs and pebbles, all the way down to the base of it where, of course, because it had to be the Doctor's luck, they found themselves surrounded by even MORE Angels, all of them in various stages of freeing themselves from the snow.

"They're climbing out of the snow!" Clara gasped.

"Really?" the Judge remarked dryly as they scrambled to get standing, "We hadn't noticed!"

"Just keep looking at them," the Doctor pressed his back to them, the three of them all looking in different directions, at as many of the statues as they could, trying to keep calm, "At all of them."

"Why?" Clara swallowed.

"Quantum-locked life-form, it can only move if it's unobserved."

"What are they doing here?"

"They must have got to the planet before Tasha realized," the Judge answered, "Or somehow gotten through it…they don't register as alive but as stone, the shield must be just for things that give off a lifesign."

"Just keep looking at them," the Doctor called.

Clara tried, reaching up to wipe away the snow that was flying, matting her hair in her face, landing on her eyelashes, but it was no use, it just kept coming, making her eyes strain to blink, "I can't. I can't see, the snow's in my eyes."

"Doctor we have to get the TARDIS down here," the Judge told him, knowing he hadn't wanted to risk using it without knowing what the shield was like and what havoc it might do to the circuitry.

"But you can't fly it remotely!"

"No, but it can home in on the key," the Doctor agreed, reaching out to take the Judge's hand, "And I would not be adverse to letting the old girl do that right now!"

"But she took your key!"

"She took one of them!"

The Judge deftly pulled a key out of somewhere, holding it up in the air as it began to glow golden, the TARDIS appearing around them nearly instantly, "Oh thank god that worked," she nearly slouched against the console, the Doctor coming over to hug her tightly. The Weeping Angels were one of the worst of his enemies, they literally cornered you, you couldn't run or talk to them or do anything but stare, made you a sitting duck. Thankfully they'd had that teleport idea.

"Come on, chickadee," the Doctor murmured in the Judge's ear, pressing a kiss to her temple, "We just have to home in on the mysterious message. Ooh, yes," he pulled away, smiling softly at her, "I like that, the mysterious message."

"You know what I like?" the Judge countered.

"What?"

"Not chickadee."

He pouted at that.

"Where were you hiding that key?" Clara asked, giving the Judge an odd look.

"You don't want to know," the Judge told her.

"Bit of misdirection," the Doctor answered, reaching out to brush her hair past her shoulders and behind her neck, unintentionally telling Clara that it had been hidden at the back of her neck, behind her hair, "I knew Tasha would be focusing on me and expecting ME to try and hide something, from what I told her of the Judge, she wouldn't think SHE'd break the rules."

"There were no rules in place to be broken," the Judge shook her head at that, "Just because the Papal Mainframe got to the planet first, doesn't mean they had a right to decide who could or couldn't land on it. It's an already established planet, already inhabited, only the peoples of that world had a right to that."

"How'd you get it to stick?" Clara tilted her head, more focused on that.

"Tape?" the Judge gave her a look for that. Still, it was better her with her longer hair able to hide it than the Doctor. She'd walked in on him about to shave his entire head one night because he was bored and thought that having a wig would be a good place to hide things.

"Right," the Doctor cut in, pulling a lever, "Setting us down, near the signal source. I'm going to turn the engines on silent, don't want to make a fuss."

"You just don't want Tasha to realize that we got the TARDIS through her shield," the Judge poked him.

"That too."

"And, speaking of Tasha, now that we're not dealing with her any longer, I'm going to find some actual clothes," the Judge announced, turning to head away from the console and towards the halls, Clara hurrying after her as she did NOT want to be walking around naked any more than she had to.

The Doctor pouted, looking at the controls to the hall and back before sighing and following the two women off, he'd best get dressed too. If he didn't want to cause a fuss, he should probably not leave it to chance that the visual projections of his clothing would work on everyone. He wasn't sure if the species was human on the planet and that was what the projection was set to.

Better safe than sorry.

~8~

It appeared that the location of the signal was the actual town they'd seen when they'd been at the top of the hill so it hadn't been that much of a hop, but it would be enough to leave the Weeping Angels wondering where they'd got to. The road they'd found themselves on when they stepped out of the TARDIS was lined by trees and lamp posts that hadn't quite reached the electronic stage just yet, small fires flickering away in it. It was…quaint, had a very Victorian air to it, a Christmas sort of feel as well, which was fitting given that they'd just come from Christmas on Earth, even if it was technically July on the planet at the moment.

"Oh, it's good to be wearing clothes again," Clara gave a relieved and very happy sigh, "That's so much better, don't you think?" she looked at the Time Lords, but they were too focused on what was going on at the moment, at tracking the signal.

The Doctor had his sonic out, trying to get a reading on it while the Judge walked beside him with Handles in her arms and not looking all that happy to be carrying a Cyber-head. Talk about not wanting to cause a fuss, and then decide they should carry a robotic head around. The Judge had asked him if Clara had suggested that one, which made her give an irritated huff.

"Now, what do we make of this place?" the Doctor looked at the two women, "It's two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Hmm…" the Judge hummed at that, looking around, "So it's a planet with rather short days if it's night at 2 already."

"Yes, and…" the Doctor looked up, pointing ahead of them, "The message is coming from that tower," the Judge reached out and pushed his pointing finger down when a lovely middle-aged couple walked right in front of the line of his finger, passing the clock tower that apparently held the signal, "Hello!" he lifted his other arm instead, but in a wave this time, "Hello, there!" he started towards the couple that was also now making their way towards them, whispering to the two women as he went, "Right, we're a couple from the next town," he told the Judge, "And we're just visiting with our…niece," he offered to Clara, the same cover they'd used for Mrs. Gillyflower, "My name's probably Hank or Rock, something like that…"

"Or we could just stick with John Smith," the Judge mumbled before putting on a smile for the couple as they reached them, "Hello!"

"Good to meet you, nice snow."

"Most pleasant to meet you too," the man gave them each a firm shake of the hand.

"Most pleasant," the woman agreed, "Most pleasant!"

The Judge's smile grew slightly strained at how…chipper they all were, chipper humans were a little irritating, might be another reason why Clara sometimes grated her nerves, she was chipper like that at times.

"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor introduced, but instead of stopping, was compelled to add, "I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. I stole a time machine and ran away from my wife and kids, something I've yet to forgive myself for, all the while I've been flouting the principal law of my own people despite the fact I'm married to one of the law's representatives," the Doctor coughed at that, seeming shocked that he'd spoken so much, "That wasn't quite what I was meant to say!"

The Judge gave him an odd look for that, but she knew that he DID have a tendency to ramble so she didn't think much of it…till SHE began to speak as well, "And I'm the Judge, his wife, a Time Lady from Gallifrey that tends to keep things bottled inside till I just explode at the people I care about because I just can't bring myself to tell them when they've torn my hearts apart and crushed my feelings…" she dropped Handles at that, wanting to put her hands over her mouth to stop herself and only succeeded in dropping it on her foot, "Ow…" luckily though it stopped her talking, though it did make the Doctor look at her with such guilt and sorrow in his eyes for what he'd done to her and how he'd hurt her to hear her blurt that all out.

"Well I'm an English teacher from planet Earth," Clara smiled, pleased that she was finally the normal one, but even SHE couldn't seem to stop, "And I've run off with a man from space because I really fancy the adrenaline which might actually be slightly a bit much of a problem..."

"I think," the woman gave a soft chuckle, holding up a hand to stop them, "Perhaps, you should stop talking till you get used to it."

"Used to what?" the Doctor put his hand under his chin, appearing to be thinking, though it was more to stop himself talking if he were to start again.

"What did you say your name was?"

"Bubbly personality masking bossy control freak!" Clara answered without even a pause, before slapping her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

"Stickler for the rules with a crippling need for stability," the Judge tried to just say 'the Judge.'

The Doctor had even worse luck, "Man guilt-tripped into helping save others lives because I destroy more than I save…oh I see," he nodded slowly, "It's a truth field!"

The Judge looked at him for that, now HER eyes were full of sorrow for that, to know that he felt like that apparently, that he really felt that he destroyed more lives than he had saved, and he had saved SO many, even she could admit to that, his travels had saved so many lives.

"No one can lie in this town," the man nodded, leaning down to pick up Handles, not even questioning why they had a robotic head as he handed it back to the Judge, "Especially this close to the tower," he gestured back to the clock tower the Doctor had scanned before.

The Doctor eyed the building a moment as the couple began to continue their walk, before turning to call after them, "Doesn't that make life a bit difficult?"

"Not at all," was the woman's soft, chuckling reply, despite the man beside her deeming, "Yes," instead.

"What's the name of this town?" the Judge asked.

"Christmas," the man stated, making the trio look at each other confused as to why someone would name a town after a holiday, "Be happy here. Be well."

Clara turned to follow the Time Lords as they began to approach the clock tower, "How can a town be called Christmas?"

"I don't know, how can an island be called Easter?" the Doctor shrugged, "Maybe it's just nice here. I almost hate to find out what's wrong."

"I'm guessing the 'almost' is an important word," the Judge remarked, if it was a truth field then she didn't doubt there was some part of him that was just buzzing to determine what it was that was going on.

The Doctor reached out as they made it to the doors of the tower and held them open for the Judge and Clara to enter. The room was dark, no light at all for them to see by…which made it all the more easy for them to find the source of the signal, for there was only one, odd light that was flickering off the walls down a small corridor. They followed it, the Time Lords stopping as they came face to face with a crack on the wall of the small room they'd entered.

And not just any crack, but a very specific one, one that the Doctor was rather familiar with for it was the exact same crack that had popped up when he'd first met Amy Pond. The Judge recognized it from some pictures he'd shown her, from some warnings he'd given her of what to look for if any were to show up around Torchwood. She had come across one, had been able to close it with some help from Jack, so she knew what this crack meant…or she did then. What it was doing here and now when the TARDIS had ceased exploding and the Doctor had fixed everything she wasn't sure of.

"What took you so long?" the Doctor murmured at the crack as they stepped more into the room.

"What's wrong?" Clara looked between the two of them, seeing how serious they had both grown in such a short time, how they were so focused on the large crack, "It's only a crack in the wall," granted said crack WAS emitting a blinding white light.

"Do many cracks make a light like this Clara?" the Judge countered, making Clara nod that it really wasn't all that normal.

"I knew," the Doctor shook his head, fixated on the crack, the identical crack that he'd seen in so many place and thought he'd gotten rid of, "I always knew it wasn't over."

"And what sort of crack is it?" Clara frowned, "it's not normal, but WHAT is it?"

"A split in the skin of reality. A tiny sliver of the 26th of June, 2010. The day the universe blew up."

Clara blinked at that, "Missed that…"

"You didn't," the Judge shook her head, setting Handles down on a chair and moving closer to where the Doctor was crouched down and examining the crack, his narrow eyes trying to look through it but seeing nothing, "The Doctor reversed it all. The TARDIS blew up, for some reason."

"I DID fix it," the Doctor agreed, "But the scar tissue remains. A structural weakness in the whole universe and someone's trying to get through it, from outside our universe, from somewhere else…"

"Then they'd pick one of the scarred areas," the Judge realized.

"Outside the Universe…" the Doctor murmured, glancing at the Judge, with Handles right beside her, as a thought hit him and he hurried over to the robotic head, "You said Gallifrey. Why did you say Gallifrey?" he asked the robot.

Handles's eyes lit up, "Analysis of message composition indicates Gallifreyan origin, according to TARDIS data banks."

The Judge let out a breath at that, "Please tell me it's not implying that the message is coming through this crack?" not sure how she felt about that, that this crack might be a connection to Gallifrey, that it might be RIGHT here…because if it was…there were thousands if not millions of ships above them that would do anything to destroy it.

"I think it is," the Doctor nodded, solemn, "The truth field too," he glanced at the crack a moment, when Handles beeped, starting to resonate the same beeping noise that had lured everyone there in the first place. He looked up at the Judge a moment before turning to Clara, pulling a small medallion from his pocket and pressing it to Handles's head, sonicing it to stick.

"Is that the seal of the High Council of Gallifrey?" the Judge stepped closer, her eyes widening at the sight of it.

"Nicked it off the Master in the Death Zone," he nodded, "There is an algorithm imprinted in the atomic structure. Use it to decode the message," he ordered Handles.

"Message decoding," Handles reported, "Message analysis proceeding. Information available. The message is a request for information."

"What request?" the Judge cut in, seeing the Doctor getting irritated with how Handles had made 'it's a question' into a long drawn out definition.

"It is being projected through all of time and space on a repeating cycle…"

"I didn't as that, I asked what IS it."

But the words Handles had spoken seemed to resonate with the Doctor as he straightened his shoulders, his eyes widening as he breathed, "The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight..."

"Warning!" Handles cried, his eyes lighting up, "Translation will be available to all life-forms in range. Translation follows. Doctor who? Doctor who?"

The Time Lords looked up as that same question began to repeat, knowing that every single ship above them was hearing it as well, that everywhere in all of time and space, was hearing that question.

"A question only we could answer," the Doctor breathed, turning to the Judge, only those that knew the answer to the question could speak it, and that there were only two alive that knew it.

"The truth field to make sure it's really a Time Lord giving it," the Judge realized.

"If we give my name, they'll know they've found the right place and that it's safe to come through."

Clara opened her mouth to ask something, but snapped it shut, thinking for a moment about the question. Of course it was the Time Lords, the Gallifreyan, the talk about the planet being Gallifrey, it HAD to be them. So…the real question was, why didn't either the Doctor or the Judge look HAPPY about that?

"Why wouldn't you give your name?" she inquired.

The Doctor looked over at Clara, as though just remembering she was standing there, and then back to the Judge who bit the inside of her cheek, seeing the question in his eyes.

'_We can't let her stay,_' she answered him in his mind, not risking speaking out loud even in Gallifreyan, '_It's not like last time, even with the two of us here, it won't be safe, this is…it's too much._'

She had wanted to yell at Clara in the Gallery, about how foolish it had been of her to do what she had, with a wormhole that no one but the Doctor (vaguely) knew about. But Clara had clearly intended to STOP him jumping in, had reached out to grab him to pull him back and got yanked along. Clara hadn't wanted to jump into the wormhole, hadn't chosen or thought to do it, but had unfortunately been brought along, so she couldn't fault her for trying to stop the Doctor.

This though…this had the potential to be even more dangerous. A wormhole anywhere could mean they landed in…Candyland for all they knew. But this, they KNEW this was the Time Lords, and they KNEW that nothing good would come of them letting the Time Lords out or even leaving. Because everyone knew that the message was from Gallifrey now, everyone above them would be aware the Time Lords could return through this planet…and they'd want to stop them.

This was infinitely more dangerous to Clara.

"Because I don't have everything to help them," the Doctor lied, turning to Clara, "So I need you to take this to the TARDIS and put it in the charger slot for the sonic," he pulled out a small disc and handed it to her, the Judge recognizing it as one of the preset coordinate flight plans, one that would likely take Clara right back home.

"Why?" Clara asked slowly even though she reached for the disc.

"Because this has to be done right," the Judge agreed, "We only get one chance Clara, because there are millions of ships above us, more than half are probably hostile and would destroy each other to ensure the Time Lords don't come back."

"And this'll help?" Clara held up the disc, "What, will it make it so that the ships don't know the Time Lords are coming?"

"It'll help," was all the Doctor agreed.

"Doctor!" they all looked up as Tasha's voice began to echo above them, coming from outside, "Speak with me."

"Clara," the Judge looked at her, "Please, get to the TARDIS," she hesitated a moment before adding, "It's already starting," she tried to make it sound like it all depended on Clara getting to the TARDIS to spur her into action, and it did, Clara nodded, gripped the disc, and ran out of the room.

The Doctor reached out and took the Judge's hand, leading her to the doors as well, spotting a set of steps beside them that went up to the top of the belfry, the two of them hurrying up them, able to see a hologram of Tasha's face had appeared in the sky above the town.

"Doctor! Face me now!"

"She's very demanding," the Judge grumbled as they made it to the top.

The Doctor smiled at that and looked out from the tower at the hologram, "Mother Superious, there is only one thing I need from you, this planet...what's it called?"

Tasha's hard expression didn't even falter as she spoke, "Trenzalore," she informed them, observing as they both looked perturbed by that, "If you speak your name, the Time Lords will return."

"If they return, they will come in peace."

"Peace or not, everyone else will want to stop them," the Judge remarked, "Especially the Daleks."

"Your wife is wise, Doctor," Tasha agreed, "They _will_ be met with a war that will never end. The Time War will begin anew! I will not that let that happen at any cost. Speak your name and this world will burn!"

"No," the Doctor shook his head, reaching out to take the Judge's hand again, squeezing it, "This planet is protected!" he flicked his sonic up at the sky, shorting out Tasha's hologram, the two of them looking down just as the TARDIS disappeared.

"Please tell me we DID do the right thing in sending her away," the Judge whispered to him in the moment of silence that followed.

The Doctor lifted her hand and kissed it, "I think we did," he tried to smile at her, tried to tease, "Pooh bear."

She just gave him a look, "No."

~8~

"_In the time that followed, the Papal Mainframe strove to maintain the peace between the Time Lords and their enemies. As the days passed, and the years, the Doctor and his wife stayed true to his word. On the fields of Trenzalore, they stood as protectors, both of their own people and their new home. Over time, their enemies would find new, stranger ways to enter the town called Christmas. With every victory, the town celebrated. In time, the Doctor seemed to forget he'd lived any other life than the one he shared there with his wife and the people of the town came to love the ones who stayed for Christmas_."

~8~

To say the Judge was shocked when, 300 years after she and the Doctor had sent Clara away and began their wait for the TARDIS to return, Clara reappeared along with the TARDIS would be an understatement. To say Clara had experienced a shock in travelling through the Time Vortex, grabbing onto the outside of the box, only to find herself before a man that looked like the Doctor but was quite a bit older than when she'd left him…would also be an understatement.

The Judge looked over at Clara as they all sat on the top of the clock tower, her, the Doctor, and Clara, waiting for the dawn to arise, roasting marshmallows over a small fire. She'd been in the tower chamber, posting some of the pictures that the children had made for the Doctor and her on the walls when the Doctor had come in with a shaking Clara and explained what happened. While they had been on Trenzalore, dealing with Sontarans in an invisible vehicle, dealing with stopping wooden Cybermen, and dealing with just about every other enemy and their daft ideas of how to attack the town, for 300 years, Clara had been grabbing onto the outside of the TARDIS, forcing the box to extend the shell and make the journey exponentially slower than it should have been to return to them. They'd been there for 300 years, had endured attempt after attempt after attempt by their enemies to sneak into the town and attack them, had dealt with them all. They had settled down as much as they could, living in the clock tower, had gotten to know the children and the people of the town each generation, been able to take part in their celebrations of their victories and how they were all safe now because of the Time Lords. But still, they had needed the TARDIS ages ago and it had been lost to them, the Doctor had grown older as well, after 300 years, he had a bit of a limp, needed a cane, even had some wisps of gray hair to match his starting-to-form wrinkles.

And she looked the same.

The Doctor had taken no small amount of pleasure in pointing out to her that she'd been with him, in the middle of a small battle, for 300 years and hadn't regenerated ONCE…but had spent almost 10 with Torchwood and regenerated half a dozen times at the least.

But they were still alive, still together, closer than they had been the last time that Clara had seen them, which was odd to her to see them sit so close, the Doctor's arm around the Judge's shoulders while she roasted marshmallows for them, a sort of…ease about them that she wasn't used to. But she could still see a little bit of tension still there, and she had to wonder just how many issues the two Time Lords had in their marriage that even 300 years later there were STILL things they had to work out.

"It's a bit…peaceful, for a battle going on," Clara remarked, glancing out at the quiet town, the two had been filling her in on what she'd missed and it didn't seem like the middle of some sort of fight at the moment.

"We're at a standoff," the Judge shrugged, "They haven't been outright attacking just yet, more…trying to sneak past the defenses to get to us before we can act."

"They can't attack in case we unleash the Time Lords," the Doctor nodded, "And we can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords."

"And even if the Time Lords find another crack," the Judge shook her head, "We lost our planet, we won't let someone else's actually BE destroyed."

That was why they were staying. Oh their enemies could attack and think they were getting the Time Lords wiped out, but they wouldn't. Gallifrey would find another crack to put a call through…and it would all start over again and yet another planet would be targeted. They couldn't do that. The Doctor squeezed her shoulders more, tugging her closer to him, needing her closer. He could almost imagine what he'd be thinking of all this if she hadn't been there for him, hadn't been beside him the last 3 centuries, that he stayed because Christmas was a place that needed him to stick around…but that would be a lie. Because SHE needed him, she'd always needed him to stick around, with her, with their family, and he hadn't.

He was trying to make up for that now, to protect their planet, to stick around and actually protect their home, protect HIS home…protect his wife.

"Where do you get these?" Clara lifted her stick a bit, wanting to change the subject from war and battles and destruction to something lighter…marshmallows worked.

"We have a supplier," the Doctor smiled, "The pinks ones are best."

The Judge smiled at that, recalling why he thought that. He'd sometimes get treats for the children when they were growing up, off-world treats from traders, marshmallows on Earth were one of them, and their daughter had always loved the pink ones. It was his way of remembering her. Much like how the brown M&Ms were his favorite because their eldest would only eat the brown ones and how the green candies were always their second son's favorite because it turned his tongue green.

Her thoughts were cut off when the sun just began to peek out the top of the buildings in the distance, casting a light, warm glow around them as the birds came awake and began their morning songs.

"What do you think?" the Doctor looked at Clara as he stood with the Judge, walking over to the edge of the belfry to look out at the town, pulling a marshmallow off the stick to pop into his mouth as they observed the dawn, "We come up here once a day for a few minutes...remind us of what it is we're protecting."

"It's beautiful," Clara could admit to that, but the sight of it, the color of the dawn, that warm glow that the TARDIS had too, and seeing the town in the light, seeing all of it, hearing them talk about protecting the town, it made her wonder, "Why did you send me away?"

"To keep you safe," the Judge said simply, "It's why we always do what we do. To keep you safe Clara."

"But…"

"It's been 300 years," the Judge gave her a look, "You would have died about 250 years ago."

The Doctor was silent at that, looking at Clara and the Judge speaking, a small frown on his face as he observed the Judge, almost seeming questioning or curious of something, but before he could comment, Clara continued, "I wouldn't have. I would never have let you get stuck here."

"Everyone gets stuck somewhere, eventually, Clara," the Doctor chuckled, shaking his head, "Everything ends."

"Except you two."

"The Judge maybe," the Doctor agreed, "Eh monkey?" he laughed as the Judge rolled her eyes at that.

He was back on the animal names again. Well, not really again. He wasn't…he didn't quite have a grasp on which names he'd already tried on her and which he had. There were some he knew, certainly, that she didn't enjoy and not to bother with. But some were…some were fuzzy, he truly couldn't recall if he'd used them or not. So he made rounds, going through the different names all over again.

The Judge just…never told him he'd already gone though every single name in each round already, many times, and she'd put them all down. She didn't have the hearts to tell him he'd already tried the names, repeatedly, didn't want to have to say it, to say it out loud and say what they both were fearing would happen and was happening, that his mind was slowly slowing down.

"AND you," Clara insisted.

"Have you been paying attention?" the Doctor huffed, making the Judge laugh at how he'd sounded a bit like her just then, "I'm an old man now."

"But you don't die," Clara argued, "You change. You pop right back up with a new face."

"No, not forever. I can change 12 times. 13 versions of me. 13 silly Doctors."

"But I thought the Judge…"

"I'm on my 14th," the Judge agreed, "But I was given another set of 12, during the war. The Time Lords gave it to me."

"Then can't they give YOU another?" Clara looked at the Doctor.

"How?" he deadpanned, "They could barely manage 3 beeps through a crack and think they could direct an entirely new set of regenerations to me?" he shook his head, "They can't.

"Ok," Clara frowned, "But you're number 11, so you still have…"

"Are we forgetting Captain Grumpy, eh? I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration."

"Fine," Clara got a bit irritated now, "You're number 12 then."

But the Doctor just kept shaking his head, "Number 10 once regenerated and kept the same face, I had vanity issues at the time."

"But do you see Clara?" the Judge sighed, "He's used up all his regenerations. And I can't give him any of mine. There's no way to get another set…" she swallowed hard, "This is it."

"This is where I end up," the Doctor agreed, "This face, this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves...one of them mine."

"Ours," the Judge reminded him.

"We'll talk about that later," the Doctor waved it off, determined to at least get her to safety, to not die there like he was sure she would. That time tunnel, it had been his, the majority of it and he had a theory that if the Judge were to NOT die…it wouldn't affect much of it, that there wouldn't be major consequences…they didn't even know if she really HAD died then, they were just guessing really and…and…and…he just didn't want his wife to have to die with him when she had more lives that she could use to live.

"Change the future," Clara determined even as the sun began to set.

"We can't," the Doctor resigned himself to that.

"You've got your TARDIS back!"

"And we said before Clara that we just can't leave," the Judge reminded her.

"I know, but you've been protecting this town for over 300 years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet?"

"Who?" the Judge challenged, "Who would step up and protect it for us? Against all of them?" she gestured up at the sky.

"Ok, but fine, if no one came…" Clara shook her head, "You JUST said that you both won't be here forever. It'll end the same way, whatever you do. The town WILL be destroyed whether it's now or after you've passed."

"Every life we save is a victory," the Doctor stated with feeling, "Every single one. And we'd rather have centuries more of people living than to end it now."

"What about living YOUR life?" Clara could feel tears gather in her eyes now, hearing him talk like that, it wasn't even that he was thinking of dying, he wasn't, not really, he was talking about fighting, about continuing to fight and survive and save more and more people, but…she couldn't help but think of all they'd be sacrificing in doing that, "Just for once, after all of this time, have you not earned the right to think about that?"

"It's been 300 years Clara," the Judge sighed, "We've had 300 years of coming to think of this place as our home, as much our home as the Earth was," she would never ever say as much as Gallifrey was, "We are a stubborn people and we will fight to the end to protect our home. Because our REAL home is here too," she reminded her of the crack, "And if we lose THIS connection to it…we don't know if we'll ever find another one."

Clara fell silent at that, not having thought of it that way. This had been a complete accident that they'd stumbled on the crack there…what if this was the only one left? What if that scar was the only one they could open? If they left now, if Trenzalore was destroyed…WOULD they have another chance at getting their planet back?

But before she could apologize for the argument she'd started, there was a thunderous cracking noise beside them and Tasha's face appeared in the sky once more, "Doctor! Judge!"

"Look who's woken up!" the Doctor muttered.

"The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified."

"We'll be right up," the Doctor waved the hologram away.

"I'm sending a transporter."

"We wouldn't have said we'd be right up if we didn't have a way to literally be right with you," the Judge remarked, "We have the TARDIS again, we'll see you soon enough."

Tasha nodded her head once at hat before the hologram disappeared.

"It's gone dark," Clara finally noticed the sunset had happened…and she'd missed it.

"Well, the sun's gone down," the Doctor gave her a look that reminded her FAR too much of the ones the Judge would give when she'd said something that the Time Lady considered stupid.

300 years with the Judge and the Judge alone…she was almost afraid of what he'd be like if he spent 300 more with her.

"Already?"

"Everything ends, Clara," he repeated, letting out a gentle sigh, "And sooner than you think."

The Judge just reached out and took his hand, they both knew that he had a few more centuries left in him, but…for Tasha to contact them, it meant things were getting increasingly hostile above them. The Mainframe was trying to maintain a peace, a truce of sorts, a stalemate, but if they needed to speak now…it meant that their hold over the others was weaning away.

Soon enough, a real war would begin.

~8~

Tasha was very serious and solemn as they sat across from her in the long table of her quarters after having arrived on the Papal Mainframe. They'd encountered the Silence, though they now understood them to be Confessional Priests that had been genetically modified to help 'unburden the soul' as they'd allow you to forget that you'd told someone your confessions but still allow you to feel lighter about it. But Tasha had been in no mood for light chatter or even a greeting or veneration as she merely turned and walked off, assuming they would follow, and there they were now, gathered together in privacy to talk politics.

Or they would have if the Doctor hadn't been going through a box of marshmallows that his 'supplier' had placed before him before taking her seat.

"Satisfactory?" Tasha inquired.

"Where are the pink ones?" the Doctor pouted at that.

The Judge frowned, not sure if he was being entirely serious in not knowing where the pink ones were, that Tasha had given them to him, that he'd been eating them on Trenzalore just before, or if he was just trying to irritate the Mother Superious, so she said nothing.

"E-numbers. You're hyper enough as it is and I doubt your wife would appreciate you running about on a sugar high."

"Thank you," the Judge turned to Tasha, really actually thankful that she had taken the pink ones out. This felt like it had to be a serious talk and the Doctor would undoubtedly get distracted by the pink ones, "Why have you called us here Tasha?"

"This situation cannot continue," the woman stated.

The Doctor nearly snorted at that, "It can't end either," he pushed the box of marshmallows away, focusing.

"Why did you ever come to Trenzalore?"

"It's not like we KNEW it was Trenzalore," the Judge argued, the databanks on the TARDIS hadn't managed to patch through that, had gotten all confused by the message from Gallifrey, it had actually thought the planet WAS Gallifrey till it was too late, "And YOU were the one that SENT us down there."

"And nothing can change that now," the Doctor agreed, pointing a cane he'd been using at Tasha in accusation, "Didn't stop you trying, though, did it?"

Tasha's raccoon eyes narrowed at the implication, "Not _me_. The Kovarian Chapter broke away. They travelled back along your timeline and tried to prevent you ever reaching Trenzalore."

"So that's who blew up my TARDIS. I thought I'd left the bath running."

The Judge did smile at that though, THAT she knew he was jesting about.

"They blew up your time capsule," Tasha grew remarkably serious, sounding almost chastising of how lightly he was treating all this, "Created the very cracks in the universe through which the Time Lords are now calling…"

"The destiny trap. You can't change history if you're part of it."

"They engineered a psychopath to kill you."

"Better people than your church have tried to kill him," the Judge remarked, that much she knew for certain, the Doctor had had…many, MANY attempts on his life, "If the Time Lords themselves couldn't get rid of him, I doubt you or anyone else could."

"Thanks, panda," the Doctor rolled his eyes at that, though he was smiling, knowing she wasn't saying it in a way that expressed she'd wished they'd succeeded but more that she was trying to say how resilient he was.

"No more bears Doctor," the Judge gave him a look, she'd been called pooh bear, and panda bear, and grizzly bear after one rather angry interaction with a Rutan, it was getting ridiculous now.

"I am not interested in changing history," Tasha cut in, not about to let them get on a tangent or start to flirt or whatever it was that they did, not when the situation was so serious, "I want to change the future. The Daleks send for reinforcements daily, they are massing for war. Three days ago, they attacked the Mainframe itself!"

The Time Lords stiffened at that, "They attacked here?" the Doctor frowned at that, there had been no word of it at all.

"Why didn't you tell us?" the Judge followed on that line of thought, three days was far longer than Tasha, from what the Doctor said of the woman, would wait to inform them, she would have contacted them likely the instant it was happening or just after.

"How did you stop them?" Clara shook her head.

"Stop them?" Tasha merely turned her head to Clara, "It was slaughter!"

"Why didn't you call me?!" the Doctor demanded, "I could have helped."

"Doctor," the Judge reached out to touch his arm, something about Tasha's words hitting her, "She said it was a _slaughter_, that the Daleks hadn't been stopped…which means…"

"I died in this room, screaming your name," Tasha stated.

The Doctor stood as quickly as his bum leg and cane and age allowed, the Judge at his side instantly, moving around him to Clara, grabbing her arm to try and pull her up and away from Tasha.

"Oh..." Tasha breathed, blinking as she thought about what she'd just said, "I 's funny the things that slip your mind."

The Judge winced as Tasha gasped and slammed her head down onto the table, her body starting to jerk and seize under her, before reaching out to grab the Doctor's arm as he tried to take a step towards the woman to help her, but it was too late. Tasha suddenly went entirely too still and then jerked upright in her chair, a Dalek eyestalk now jutting out of her forehead.

Clara screamed as a blast went through the doors of the chamber, exploding and sending them shattering open, Daleks trundling in mass numbers, their laser stalks twitching at the trio as they ordered, "Step away from the Dalek unit Doctor!"

The Doctor gaped at them, "You shouldn't even know who I am!"

Clara, well, Oswin, had made sure of that!

"Information concerning the Doctor and the Judge was harvested from the cadaver of Tasha Lem."

The Judge looked over as Tasha began to rise, keeping her eye on the woman as the Doctor faced down the Daleks, not about to let them get surrounded or surprised from behind.

"Beg she never told you how to break the Trenzalore force field, though," the Doctor smirked at that, "She'd have died first."

"Several times."

"They're horrible," Clara breathed, absolutely disgusted with the Daleks.

"And now you're, what?" the Doctor challenged, "Going to try and kill me? Well sorry, sweetheart," he pulled his sonic out and allowed the message of 'Doctor Who?' to echo through the room on Tasha's receiver, "I'm a tough old bird. I'll be ages dying. Way enough time to answer a question. And, if I get my way, even if I go, my wife can answer it for me," he smiled, "And then what happens, boys?"

"You will die in silence, Doctor, or your associate will die!" the Daleks threatened.

But the Judge pulled Clara back, thankful she'd been watching Tasha the entire time, letting out a fierce kick to the woman's stomach, using Clara as leverage for balance, and sending Tasha stumbling back, falling to the floor, "Care to try that one again?" she asked the Daleks, trying to be brave in facing them, even if she wasn't actually facing them-facing them, the Doctor was doing that, she was at his side, yes, but they were focused on him…which was letting her focus on Tasha and keeping Clara safe.

The Doctor glanced down at Tasha as the woman robotically began to get up again, seeing a flicker of pain in her eyes from the blow and realizing she was still in there, he just had to trigger her enough to get her back, to override the Dalek control, "You see, Tasha," he turned slightly, putting his arm around the Judge, "That's what I'm talking about! You see what my wife did? Now THAT is a WOMAN! I always knew you were a bit spineless," he added, taunting her, "You and your pointless church! Why did I ever rely on you? Never trust a nun to do a mother's work!"

Tasha, who had just straightened upright, turned and swung her hand, with a Dalek laser set in it, out at them, but the blast flew past them and at the Daleks behind them, destroying the lot of them. The Doctor cheered and kissed the Judge quickly, knowing that even if it was a different reason that she'd protected Clara, the fact was she WAS a mother, and Tasha, with her church and her faith and her vows, would never be and he knew, as terrible as it was to use against the woman, that at one point in her life she HAD considered breaking her vows and finding a good man to actually BE a mother…but had chosen not to. It was a cruel thing to say to her, to flaunt the fact that the Judge was not just his wife but the mother of his children at the woman, but it had worked.

"Right," he looked at Tasha, not sure how long she'd have control for, "Get us back to the TARDIS. Can you do that?" he took the Judge's hand and led her and Clara back to the confessional-teleports in the back.

"Yes," Tasha hurried after them, "But quickly, the Dalek inside me is waking."

"Fight it."

"I can't."

"Tasha," the Judge turned to her, "What do you love most in this world?"

Tasha frowned at that, "My flock," she answered instantly, thinking of all the people that followed and believed in her church.

"Think of them," the Judge told her, "Daleks operate on hate, so fight it back with love. Think of all the people you love, think of why you love the church and use it to keep the Daleks out."

Tasha gave a short, unsure, nod, and gestured them into the confessionals as she ran to the controls, "The force field will hold for a while, but it will decay, and there are breaches already."

"Then this isn't a siege any more, it's a war," the Doctor peeked out at her, "It's all up to you now. Fight the Daleks, inside and out. You can do it, I know you can."

"Oh, I see," Tasha narrowed her eyes at him, accusation heavy in her voice, "You've got your TARDIS back, time to fly away."

"Tasha, love not hate," the Judge peeked out as well, warning the woman that she was starting to sound Dalekish again.

Tasha closed her eyes and took a breath, nodding to herself before she reached out and pulled a lever to send them to the safety of the TARDIS a moment after they pulled their heads back into the teleport.

~8~

"Was that the klaxon?" the Doctor frowned as he stood by the console, hearing a bell ding.

The Judge glanced at him, slightly saddened to hear him ask that. While SHE had never really spent that much time in a TARDIS, and couldn't be expected to understand every single alarm that went off, she knew that HE did. He used to know every single sound and noise that the TARDIS made, but now, 300 years later, he couldn't even recognize the klaxon, "I don't think so love," she told him softly.

"Ah," he nodded, smiling regardless of that, "Must be the turkey then."

"What, is it done?" Clara looked up from where she was absently flicking a switch, not sure what to say to the two now that they had escaped yet another deadly situation.

"Either or that or it's woken up."

Clara grinned at that, relieved to see that the Doctor's sense of humor was still intact. She'd noticed he was a bit more scatterbrained, a bit…more lost in thought, almost less enthusiastic. It was so odd, to her at least, to see him like that. Only seconds ago he was a young man, or young looking, with so much energy and spryness, and now he was slowing down right in front of her, in the blink of an eye. It was different for the Judge, who didn't seem to really react or look at him like SHE did, the Judge had seen him changing, had had the centuries with him to get used to this new him slowly but surely.

"Do you want some?" she asked the two aliens.

The Doctor glanced at the Judge, something seeming to pass between them, an unspoken question and answer, before the Doctor turned back to her and smiled, nodding, "Go on, then."

That made Clara beam, "Got any plates?" she turned hop off and get the turkey, already able to smell the turkey wafting up to her now.

"Do you know, I've even got Christmas crackers!"

Clara hesitated the moment her foot landed on the first step down to the lower levels, remembering Christmas, not the town but the holiday, remembering how she'd walked out on her family to prepare the turkey, how she'd almost been sent back to them but had grabbed the TARDIS as it began to leave. She turned on her foot and made her way back to them, "One thing," she looked between them, making sure she had their full attention before she spoke again, "Look me in the eyes so I know you're not lying and tell me you will never send me away ever again."

The Doctor looked at the Judge for that once more, and the Judge nodded solemnly, leading the Doctor to look at her once more, "Clara Oswald, I will never send you away again."

Clara hurried over to him, hugging him tightly for that, not seeing the Judge subtly starting to work the controls behind her back, before she turned and rushed down to get the turkey.

The Doctor waited till Clara had completely disappeared beneath the stairs before he looked at the Judge again, his face drooping, '_Thank you,_' he murmured to her in her mind.

The Judge just shrugged, '_YOU promised not to send her off,_' she reached out and put a hand on a lever, '_I didn't._'

"Turkey smells good!" Clara cheered up to them.

"Yep," the Doctor swallowed, trying his best to make his voice sound just as cheery, "Smells great."

He closed his eyes a moment, his hand over his eyes before he nodded, that was why HE had said the promise, had said I and now we, because it was the only way he could 'break' it without breaking it, '_Do it,_' he called to the Judge.

She pulled the lever, setting the box on silent, on a preset coordinates, controls, destination, and reached out to take his hand, helping him towards the doors just as they heard Clara cry, "Perfect!"

The doors shut behind them and the box started to disappear, taking Clara back to the Powell Estates, leaving the two of them on the streets of Christmas, watching, waiting, hoping that when the box did reappear, it would be on time and without Clara. And, moments later, it did. Clara, they knew, was not going to be within the box this time, after her last little stint they'd made sure to put a safety precaution into it, the box wouldn't return if Clara was in it or even so much as touching it, but the second she let go, it would return to them.

Clara, at last, was safe.

"If you're not leaving," a voice said beside them, making them look over to see a young boy, Barnable, had joined them, "Why did you bring it back?"

"It's a reminder," the Doctor took the Judge's hand, giving her a small smile, it was a reminder of SO many things. The battle that had gone on, how Clara was gone and safe, how they were STAYING there, how Christmas had become like a home to them now. Not Gallifrey, but the crack, the feel of home that filtered out through the crack, it was enough for now, and maybe…maybe it was a reminder of what they needed, time together, time alone, time with stability and order, time to rebuild, time to actually fight beside each other this time, fight for each other, "Besides," he cleared his throat, seeing tears gathering in the Judge's eyes as she heard his thoughts, felt his hope that even in the middle of all this destruction, life would out, "We might leave tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that."

"But for right now," the Judge nodded, "We're here to stay," she squeezed the Doctor's hand and turned to lead him off, letting him lean on her as his leg began to bother him more.

"And we'll stay together," the Doctor agreed, leaning over to press a kiss to her temple, "Duckling."

The Judge just gave him an exasperated smile and shook her head, Barnable watching them walk away, back to their home in the clock tower.

~8~

"_And so, to the fields of Trenzalore came all the Time Lord's enemies. For this was the winter of the Doctor. In time, when all other races had retreated or burned, only the Church of the Mainframe remained in the path of the Daleks. And so those ancient enemies, the Doctor and the Silence, stood back-to-back on the fields of Trenzalore._"

~8~

It had been hell, utter hell, that rained down upon the small town of Christmas. The Time Lords went back and forth between feeling guilt that the people, the innocent people had to endure the constant and increasing attacks the last 500 years had brought them, that their once peaceful ways had been so long forgotten that each generation knew only battle. And torn between feeling relief that the war around them did not equate, even in the smallest fraction, to what the Time War had been like, no one ever deserved THAT sort of war. It was as though each enemy of the Doctor's would back off, let someone else fight him, each hoping that the Doctor would be tired out, would make a mistake, would fail and they could swoop in and end it.

But every enemy met the same end, till only the Daleks remained to face him, others having fled or been destroyed in staying to face the Oncoming Storm.

The Judge sat beside him now, that poor old storm, that had lived so long in this last body of his, grown so old he was almost unrecognizable had she not seen him aging slowly through all those centuries. His head was resting on her shoulder as she recited poems and stories from their home to him in their language. His hand was resting on her knee, his thumb stroking the cap of it with a soft hum. He did this each time he was about to face an enemy, gathered strength from her, he told her, needed the reminder of what he was fighting to protect. Because so many of the town had died, had grown up and lived and had families and died, all the humans around him just kept aging and leaving him or making foolish mistakes in thinking they could face one of his enemies alone and feeling the consequences of it.

But the Judge had stayed, she had been his constant, though the last 800 years he'd been on Trenzalore, she had been the one constant, never changing, facet of his life, the reminder of why he fought, of who he had to fight for. It was…the most time they'd ever spent together in a home on one planet, stationary, with time passing just as it should. 800 years of being together and yet their marriage had almost remained stationary while everything changed around them. There was so much bloodshed, so much destruction and devastation, so much to do and repair and fix and preserve that they had so few moments where they could just be married without the thought of the next battle or the last enemy. They were closer, they'd healed, yes, old wounds and time and all that.

Just being together like this, living the life of a married couple, it was enough to heal from the past, to truly LEAVE it in the past and make up for their mistakes…well, almost all their mistakes. They had grown closer, more dependent on each other, having only each other for so long while all others left them, but still no children came, even when they'd reached a point of not being quite as cautious to prevent such a thing, they never came. And they were glad of that, it still felt too much like they'd be replacing their children, and the thought of having any and subjecting them to being raised in a war like this left a bitter taste in their mouths and made their hearts clench so painfully that they were glad when some surprise alarms were proven false. No children had resulted and they knew none would come the last couple centuries or so.

They had grown comfortable with each other again, had had ample time, just the two of them, to truly talk and make amends for the past.

The Doctor always came back to her, and that was what mattered, he came back from each battle, the ones she wasn't able to be a part of whether for being elsewhere fighting her own battle or it was a surprise one while he was with someone else, but he always came back to her. He kept his promise to fight to return to her, to stay with her. He always said, the moment he saw her again and took her in his arms, that she was his strength, the one he fought to get back to, the reason he was still there.

But they both knew that the time was coming where he wouldn't be able to fight any longer. He was growing older and older, so weak, so feeble, so tired…and the Daleks were as strong as ever, they knew that this battle, this next confrontation would be his last, likely her last as well.

They had been…disappointed, at the realization. Because when they'd saved Gallifrey, they'd seen another Doctor, a future Doctor, but they knew it couldn't be. They had no idea how it was possible save perhaps he was some sort of clone or maybe someone that just found the Doctor's TARDIS and had come to help. There was no proof but the man's word that he was the 13th (not counting when the 10th Doctor had made a half-human clone of himself). For all they knew he could be from another dimension where the Doctor had not used his regeneration to keep himself the same in the Crucible. They didn't know who he was or how he came to be, but they were quite certain he couldn't be a Doctor, not THE Doctor.

And that meant this one was going to die, soon.

And he'd told her, he didn't want it to be of old age, anything but that, and he was so old already that if this confrontation didn't end it, his body would. He'd died of old age once before, in his first body, he didn't want that to be how he well and truly stopped. If he was going out, it would be with a big bang. He'd chucked at that turn of phrase, but he'd been adamant that that was how he wanted his end to be. And she couldn't deny him that, she knew being so old was painful to him. He was slowing down, his body not functioning right, his mind not cooperating or retaining anything and for the most clever of men to be reduced to someone who barely understood or remembered half of what was going on around him…it killed him in his lucid moments to realize how far he'd fallen. He didn't want to live like this, he didn't want to force HER to live with him like that, as his carer instead of his wife.

But she'd made him realize that if he did this, if he wished for it to end in this next confrontation, that SHE would be beside him. He'd tried to argue against it, wanted her to live, cited that she still had another regeneration cycle to go. But she'd just brought up the time tunnel, how her end was the same as his, brought up that he'd lived for nearly a century thinking that he was the only one alive and asked him how that felt, if he would want HER to live like that, so alone. Because there was nothing for her if not him. HE had his adventures, his humans, his box. She didn't. She didn't have that drive (the time on Trenzalore had made her more comfortable, the stability, she wouldn't want to go out there and travel), she wouldn't want to live in the TARDIS, and the humans? After all this, after all this fighting, after seeing them cause him so much pain just in their natural courses of being born and living and dying? She doubted very much that even Jack would be able to convince her to stay in Torchwood and help them. There would be nothing for her, nowhere to settle that could be a home because HE wouldn't be there, no hope of children that would live as long as her and she refused to bury more children, no drive to do anything or go anywhere, she'd just waste away without him.

SHE didn't want that life either.

They went together or he was forbidden to go at all.

He'd chuckled at that and called her a stubborn mule, back on the animal names again. He alternated, went through so many types, scores of ones he'd already gone through but forgotten he had as his mind slowly left him with gaps and fuzz. She indulged him, never reminded him that he'd already called her a daffodil 270 times, that he'd already compared her to a dove 9,448 times over, that he'd smiled at her as he called her honey for the 75,435th time. He forgot a lot of things.

She cut off suddenly as she heard the door open and leaned forward to look around him at who had entered. Most people just ran in, screaming or still felt the need to knock despite the war going on, so to just open and quietly enter was new, relatively speaking, "Clara?" she stared, not entirely sure if she might be losing her mind as well, but it was her, it was really her, "What are you…HOW are you…"

"Tasha," Clara answered, and the Doctor stiffened, turning to look at Clara as well, barely allowing her to hold in a gasp at how old he appeared now. He was wrinkled and gray and his eyes seemed to be without their youthful sparkle, something that was odd to think given how aged and ancient his eyes usually appeared in his younger body. If she had to guess how old he was in human terms, it was late 80s, perhaps early 90s, but she knew better, knew it had to have been centuries and centuries for him to have actually aged so much, "Hello."

"Clara?" the Doctor blinked rapidly and Clara's heart stopped at how he almost seemed to not recognize her name, almost seemed to not have a single clue who she was or how the Judge knew her, but she saw the Judge nudge him slightly and his eyes widened as they looked at his wife, as though she were silently conveying something to him, a memory of her, and he smiled, looking at her with familiarity again, "Were you always so young?"

"Nah," she tried to joke, "That was you," she moved to stand in front of them both, trying to keep the tears from appearing in her eyes, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas!"

"It's always Christmas," the Judge sighed, and the town still retained quite a bit of the Christmasy flare that came with the name.

Clara gave a soft chuckle at that and held a Christmas Cracker that she hadn't realized she hadn't let go of up to them, "Did they have crackers here?" she asked, kneeling before them and offering one end to the Doctor.

The Judge quickly reached out as the Doctor put a hand on it, curling hers around his, not about to let him try to pull it on his own, not because she didn't want him to pull it, but because to pull it…she knew he wasn't at his best, at his full strength, he'd just be reminded of how weak he'd grown and she didn't want to dampen his mood or make him feel less strong than how he felt at the moment, he'd need all he could muster to face the Daleks one last time.

"Ah!" the Doctor smiled, nodding his head though no one had said anything when the cracker was pulled open with a little pop, "Is there a joke? Huh?"

Clara took a small card out of it, the Doctor grasping some of the confetti within with a pinch and flicking it at the Judge for a laugh, distracted already, "Extract from 'Thoughts On A Clock' by Eric Ritchie Jr."

"Is it a knock-knock one? Those are best."

The Judge put a hand on his arm, "I think it may be a poem," she told him gently, not about to contradict him that Clara had already implied it was NOT a joke, but an excerpt, not about to use the tone she usually used on humans with him, not in this state.

Clara looked at the Judge for that, understanding with a slow nod what the Judge was conveying without speaking, before she focused on the poem, "'And now it's time for one last bow Like all your other selves Eleven's hour is over now The clock is striking twelve's.'"

The Doctor's brows furrowed at that, "I don't get it," he stated genuinely.

The Judge took a soft breath but said nothing, he'd forgotten by now, within the span of seconds, that it wasn't a joke but a poem.

Luckily neither she nor Clara had to endure an awkward silence of trying to work out what to say to that, as there was a terrible boom out the door, the Daleks launching their final attack, "Doctor! The Doctor will be brought! The Daleks demand the Doctor!"

And then, just as the Judge had expected before, the doors were thrown open as a young man ran in, his clothes worn and frayed, a gun strapped to his back, looking tired and pale and afraid, "They're here," he reported to them, the Judge rolling her eyes as the Doctor had to reach out and take her hand, knowing she was about to let out some sort of biting remark that 'no, they NEVER would have guessed the Daleks were here,' "The Daleks, we can't stop them. They want you."

"We're aware," the Judge settled for that, "And we shall deal with them once and for all."

"Yes, yes, it's alright, Barnable," the Doctor smiled at the boy, before blinking rapidly, a frown starting to mar his face as he eyed the young man, "Are you Barnable?" he whispered, his voice starting to shake as though he were realizing Barnable had been dead for centuries now and there was no way and that he was remembering the wrong person.

The young man, it appeared to Clara, didn't seem at all startled or pulsed by that question, merely responding, "No, Doctor," simply, as though it were a common occurrence that the Doctor never got their names right.

Clara was sure he DID get names right, just that he was remembering the dead and, judging by how the Judge looked at him sadly when the Doctor's next words were a cheery, "It's ok, Barnable," she was sure she was right.

"We have got a plan," the Doctor waved him off, "Off you pop," the smile on the Doctor's face didn't even fade as he turned to Clara once they boy was gone, "I haven't got a plan, but people love it when I say that."

The Judge reached out to help him stand, the Doctor grabbing her arm with as tight a grip as he could manage and Clara noticed, for the first time, that the cane she'd seen him use was gone. But she could see the Doctor's hands gripping the Judge's plaid covered arm, so wrinkled and weak…a cane must be painful for him to grip so tightly and put all his weight on, a person would be much nicer and far more stable to use as balance.

"What _are_ you going to do?" Clara had to wonder.

The Doctor gave an offhanded shrug, "Oh, I don't know. Talk very fast, hope something good happens, take the credit. That's generally how it works."

"Doctor…" the Judge began.

The Doctor looked at her, blinking again, his face scrunching as he seemed to try and focus on something and glanced at his hands, letting out a small sigh as something worked its way into his mind, "Not this time," he murmured, "This is it."

He'd thought, for a moment, that he was himself once more, that he was that youthful Doctor that really could do something like that. When it was just the Judge and him, he could look at her and see her looking exactly the same as she had before all those centuries ago. When it was just them, he could pretend he was still the same, that nothing had changed, that it hadn't been so long and that he was still young. He'd started to withdraw from the town, the last century or two, still there, still present, still available when an attack happened, but residing more in the clock tower than he usually had. He'd waved it off to others that he was getting old and need rest, really though…he just wanted to be with his wife as much as possible, to relish in the times his mind mixed up the timelines and it felt like they'd only just set foot on Trenzalore again.

Seeing his old, wrinkled hand had reminded him that was not the case and there was no use and no time left to pretend any longer.

"But…" Clara shook her head, not wanting to believe this really could be the end.

This was just like before. She'd come from one second in time and he'd been centuries older. She'd come from a few minutes and he was near his end. He was talking one minute that he would win the war and the next that it was over…the Time Lords were both resigned to a fate that, to her, hadn't been a thought only an hour ago. So much had changed and so much had been lost.

"The time tunnel is proof Clara," the Judge looked at her, warning her NOT to argue, the Doctor was already confused enough as it was and she was determined to allow him to see out his final lucid decision out as best she could, "THIS is how it's meant to end."

"No it's not!" she argued, "You can change it! Like Tasha said, change the future!"

The Doctor sighed, looking at Clara with clarity that she knew would be fleeting so she gave him her full attention, "We could have once. When there were Time Lords. Not anymore."

"There's not enough of us to do anything," the Judge agreed, glancing at the crack in the wall, "We can't let them out to a slaughter."

"Now," the Doctor added when Clara opened her mouth to say something more, "You're going to stay here. Promise us you will."

"Why?" Clara wanted to be petulant, wanted to ask why she should promise something to them when they had broken promises to her, but this was just…this was not the time and she wasn't that sort of person.

"All the time you've been with us Clara," the Judge began, "It's been our responsibility to keep you safe. This is the last time we'll be able to do it, and we need to know you WILL be safe."

"One last victory," the Doctor reached out to take Clara's hand, allowing her to feel for the first time just how weak he really was, "Allow us that. Give us that," he smiled, "Thank you. And goodbye," he cleared his throat and looked at the Judge who slowly started to move with him, leading him towards the doors, feeling his grip on her hand both tighten and weaken the nearer they got to it. Clara watched as the Doctor turned to the Judge, speaking to her, as though he'd already forgotten SHE was still in the room, "The trouble with Daleks is, lady bug, they take so long to say anything. Probably die of boredom before they shoot me."

"If you didn't die of boredom sitting through some of my presidings," the Judge countered, not bothering to remark on the 'lady buy' comment, "I don't think it'll happen now, love."

"The Doctor is required!" the Daleks began to chant, firing their lasers everywhere as the Time Lords stepped out of the tower, towards the stairs that would lead up to the top of it, there was really no reaction from them save to climb, after all the explosions and threats and enemies…this didn't faze them at all.

They ignored the cries of the Daleks until they'd reached the top of the belfry, the slowest of goings and something the Judge knew the Doctor would be complaining about himself had he been his old self, how slow they were going, but it was necessary.

"Doctor!" a single Dalek flew down to face them, hovering level with the top of the bell tower, its eyestalk taking in the two Time Lords before it.

"Sorry, I'm a bit slow," the Doctor wheezed, closing his eyes as he tried to catch his breath, "I may not be at my best right now."

"You are still THE best," the Judge reassured him quietly in his ear, making him smile.

Sadly the Dalek couldn't allow it to remain there as it felt the need to add, "You are dying, Doctor."

"Yes," he swallowed, narrowing his eyes at the pepperpot, shifting back slightly to sit on a bench, the Judge though remained standing beside him, her gaze down at the people who were hiding around various objects for cover, Clara running out among them to look up at the two of them instead of getting into the safety of the TARDIS, "I'm dying. You've been trying to kill me for centuries, and here I am, dying of old age. If you want something done, do it yourself of have your wife do it," the Doctor joked, winking at the Judge, recalling quite a few times in their marriage, both on Gallifrey and on Trenzalore, where she'd threatened to kill him herself when he did something dangerous or returned with a rather bad injury.

"You will die, and the Time Lords will never return!"

"And yet you haven't even tried to ensure that?" the Judge frowned, "We're standing here, right in front of you, all but sitting ducks, and you haven't even thought to try and fire?" she didn't understand Dalek logic.

"You're still worried I've got something up my sleeve," the Doctor realized, smirking darkly, "Well, you knock yourselves out, boys. I've got nothing this time."

He reached out and took the Judge's hand as the Daleks began to descend, firing on the town, but there was nothing they could do, nothing at all, and it broke their hearts to know the town they'd defended for so long, for so many centuries, was going to be destroyed despite their efforts. The Judge looked down at the Doctor and he back at her, both trying to smile at each other…when a deafening cracking noise resounded above them, above the Daleks, and their heads snapped over to see a crack, the SAME crack that had been on the wall within the tower, appear, splitting the sky open with a white glow.

But that wasn't all that had captured their attention and awe, it was that the white glow began to shift to the golden-orange of regeneration…and drift OUT of the crack, heading right for the Doctor.

"Oh my god!" the Judge gasped, quickly pulling her hand away from the Doctor and jumping back away from him, knowing that something like this was tricky and fragile and had to be done with care. Without the Time Lords there to actually direct the energy, it would drift towards the nearest Time Lord, and it HAD to be the Doctor…

Because that glow, that energy…was a new regeneration cycle!

The Doctor frowned, slowly standing on his own, not sure why she was backing away so far…when the energy zapped right into his mouth, into HIM, making him gasp himself and his eyes fly wide in surprise. He looked at her for confirmation that it was what he thought it was, but she just smiled and nodded down at his hands…hands that were now glowing with regeneration energy.

"You will die now, Doctor!" the Dalek before they cried, not seeming to understand the enormity of what had happened, of what that energy meant for the Daleks as well, "This is the end of you and your wife."

"Doctor," the Judge called, making him look at her, "It'll be…violent," she warned, gesturing, half-flinging, a hand towards the Daleks, "VERY violent."

He nodded slowly, the Daleks still talking, "The rules of regeneration are known. You have expended all your lives."

"Sorry," his head snapped back to the one before them, the Judge shuffling back, half down the stairs, knowing that it really could be terribly violent and knowing the Doctor would never forgive himself if he injured her, "What did you say? Did you mention the rules? Now, listen! Bit of advice. Tell me the truth if you think you know it. Lay down the law, if you're feeling brave enough to challenge my wife, but, Daleks, never, ever tell me the rules! There's only ONE person that can do that!" he winked at the Judge, already able to see the rippling of the orange-gold energy of the regeneration starting to waft up from his neck, affecting his vision.

"Emergency!" the Judge laughed as the Daleks finally seemed to realize what was going on and the danger they were most certainly in, "Emergency! The Doctor is regenerating! The Doctor is regenerating!"

The bell struck twelve behind them, making the Judge wince at the noise, sure that this version of her was now going to have permanent hearing damage because of it, but the Doctor just did a merry little jig.

"Oh, look at this!" he exclaimed, "Regeneration number 13. We're breaking some serious science here, boys. I tell you what, it's going to be a whopper!"

"Exterminate!" the Daleks all started to gather together, firing more on the Doctor than the town though a few were focusing on the town in an effort to distract him, "Exterminate the Doctor."

But the Doctor was enjoying this far too much, laughing nearly madly at what was going to come next, "You think you can stop me now, Daleks? If you want my life...Come. And. Get it!"

With that last word, he swung his arm around in a wide circle, blasting the energy that had shot out of his right arm up at the Daleks flying for him, blasting them out of the sky.

The Judge frowned though, concentrating, making out some other voice through the din, through the Daleks and the clock and the Doctor's regeneration…Clara's voice, shouting to the people to run, to get to shelter, to get out of the way…

The Doctor wound up his other arm, throwing that one out to the Daleks on the other side of him, taking out the Daleks coming at him from that side.

The Judge scrambled to her feet, hearing the tone of Clara's voice shift from warning to alarm and half climbed onto the railing of the stairs to look over the side of the tower, spotting Clara rushing for a child that was too scared to move, crouching beside it and ushering it back to the others.

"Love from Gallifrey, boys!" the Doctor gave one last call, flinging his head back and letting the regeneration take full control, a beam flying right up into the air and taking down the large Dalek ship that had descended on the planet.

But that wasn't what had the Judge crying out in alarm, screaming really…

It was that, just as Clara stood up to run back to the people…

A Dalek blast struck her in the back, sending her falling to the ground.

Dead.

~8~

The Judge stepped off the bottom of the clock tower's stair barely a minute after the Doctor's regeneration had settled, onto the ground once more, smoke from the burning Daleks in the air, everything utterly destroyed but the town was standing and the people were safe, well, most of them. She looked over at the Doctor, the man no longer old but appearing youthful once more, the same him that Amelia Pond had first met, not the old man she'd gotten used to this entire time. She had to wonder what he'd be next, old or young, it would take a lot of getting used to to see him young again after him having been so old for so long.

But that wasn't the focus of her thoughts, it couldn't be, because as she and the Doctor stepped further into the town, they could see it, Clara's body, lying right where it had fallen.

The Doctor looked down at her, sorrow and guilt in his eyes. The Judge moved beside her, kneeling down to press a finger to Clara's neck…there was no pulse. She let out a breath and turned to the Doctor, shaking her head negative. He nodded slowly, before he crouched down and hefted the girl into his arms, her body hanging limply in his hold. The Judge took a deep breath and stood, moving to the TARDIS to open the doors for him, they couldn't just leave Clara there, that wasn't right, not at all.

As the Judge moved to the console to set them off into space, get them off of Trenzalore, the Doctor gently set Clara down on the floor of the TARDIS, closing his eyes a moment, his hand over them as he took a moment to mourn his fallen companion, swallowing hard when the Judge put her hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. He reached up and placed his hand on hers, before turning, on his knees, to take her hand in both of his, examining it, the same hand she'd had for the last…oh…800 years, still looked exactly as it had while his had gotten more frail and wrinkled. He kissed her hand and look up at her, "Carah…" he began.

"You don't have to say anything Theta," she whispered, "I know what's coming next," she swallowed hard, knowing that his regeneration was more…a reset, that the actual change would be coming soon now. It had happened when she'd become this incarnation. Instead of just regenerating like normal, she'd nearly terrified Jack when she'd expelled her energy and remained the same, he thought she'd pulled what the Doctor had in the Crucible, till, instantly, before his eyes, she became someone new yet again, "I'll get Clara home, you just worry about you."

She was NOT looking forward to that, to how she would explain to her family, at Christmas, that she was dead, how she would handle losing both Clara and this Doctor…but she'd do it, she knew she'd have to. She'd endured so many of the Doctor's incarnations over time, another one wouldn't be anything spectacular or daunting to deal with, but Clara…SHE had never really lost a 'companion' before. There were the Ponds, but she had only seen them a handful of times before they'd been lost and they'd been planning to leave anyway.

"No, no," he shook his head, squeezing her hand, "It…everything will be alright," he smiled at her, his expression growing sad and thoughtful, "It all just disappears, doesn't it?" he cleared his throat as it thickened with emotion, "Everything you are, gone in a moment, like breath on a mirror. Any moment now, he's a-coming, the next me," he squeezed her hand once more, "Promise me…promise me you'll stay? That…that he'll be as much your husband as I am. I…I need to know that…"

She nodded, "You, Theta, will ALWAYS be my husband, no matter what, no matter who you become, WHAT you are to me will never change."

He let out a relieved breath at that, slowly standing, making her realize the significance of his kneel just then, a sort of pseudo-proposal that had been. He opened his mouth to say something when he looked away, almost as though he were seeing something she couldn't.

"Theta?" she called softly, reaching out her free hand to his cheek, drawing his attention back, "Whatever it is you're seeing," she began, knowing she'd hallucinated as well when her new cycle had begun, an end that should have been an end was being thwarted and it always left you unbalanced and wonky for a bit, "Please…don't look away."

He lifted his one hand to hers, pressing it more firmly to his cheek, a frown starting to appear on his face as he saw tears in her eyes, "It's just regeneration, tiger," he murmured.

She laughed at that, "Of course, you find a word I'm not completely mortified by _now_," she joked, knowing he'd actually called her tiger a handful of times so far, his memory having gone a bit and leading him to repeat quite a few names. Tiger wasn't...terrible, but it wasn't fitting either. But she sobered quickly, "I…I've never seen it before."

He grew confused at that, "You've seen loads of…"

"Not YOURS," she cut in, "I've…never seen _you_ regenerate Theta, not ever, you always just...came back different," she looked at his eyes, "It's only just hitting me now that I never had to actually watch you die before…"

"Hey," he let go of her hand on his cheek to touch her own, his thumb wiping away a tear, "I'm not dying, not really," his hearts clenched and not from the regeneration pains but from the knowledge that likely the ONLY blessing his travels had afforded her was never having to force her to watch him regenerate and NOW he would be starting his next body with that, they would be starting his next life with her having witnessed it, "I'm just changing," he nodded, firm in that belief, a belief so much different than his last self how hadn't wanted to go, not for anything, hadn't wanted to die, "We all change...when you think about it. We're all different people all through our lives. And that's ok," he nodded again, starting to smile, "That's good, you've got to keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be. I will not forget one line of this," he promised her, "Not one day with you Carah. I _swear_. I will _always _remember when the Doctor was me."

He gently lifted her hands to his neck, setting her fingers on his bowtie and giving her a reassuring nod that it was alright. His eyes remained locked on hers as she slowly undid the tie and tugged it off of his person. He lifted her hands once more, wrapping his tie around one and kissing it, "I love you now, I loved you then, and I will love you always."

"I love you too," the Judge whispered, making him smile before he felt the pain that had been growing inside him reach unbearable levels and stumbled back, half falling right on top of the console before he jerked back off it.

And a new man was standing in his place, wearing his old clothes.

The Judge didn't even blink as she took the man in, from his thinner frame and taller stature, to his shorter, more curled gray hair. His bushy, angry eyebrows would take some getting used to, but his blue eyes pierced her soul just as much as the last Doctor's green ones had. He was older now, wrinkled, and staring right at her with the widest eyes she'd ever seen.

"You alright?" she asked him, knowing it was a very jarring experience and he had always had the worst reactions to regeneration that she knew of.

"Kidneys!" he breathed, finally looking away from her to place his hands over where his kidneys were, "I've got new kidneys," and then looked back at her, "I don't like the color."

"Well you have 15 hours to work on that," she reminded him, only to fall to the side as the TARDIS began to buck around them, "Seriously!?" she shouted up at the rotor.

"Ooh," the new Doctor ran to the console, grasping for the monitor, frantic in his movements, jerky in his actions from the unbalancing the regeneration had caused, "We're probably crashing!"

"Please tell me this you isn't going to sound like a human more than the last one!" the Judge called above the noise of some minor explosions going off around the console, struggling to regain her own balance as he was thrown back into one of the side chairs.

"Just…stay calm," the Doctor pointed at her, "Just one question. Do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"

Before she could even answer the TARDIS began to rattle and jerk even worse than before, making them look up at the rotor in alarm. They glanced at each other and pushed off of where they'd fallen, knowing they needed to get to the controls, needed to get things settled...

But just as they reached the console, just as they grabbed a lever here and a switch there, something happened that gave them pause and made their eyes widen in more shock than _everything_ that had happened yet...

Clara gasped awake...

Alive.

A/N: I feel so evil to end it like that }:D

And I'm sorry this was late, it should have been up yesterday, but my sister was supposed to go to a Halloween party and her friend bailed on her and it was a sort of 2-person costume, so, somehow, I ended up dragged to it in place of her friend and that's after ending up holding over at work for a late co-worker. It was fun and at least my sister got to go, it was just awkward and last minute for me lol. But I have something that might hopefully make up for both the ending and the lateness...

I've really thought long and hard about Doctor Who, about my stories, about the plagiarisms, about everything, especially about the way that people have reacted to the conflict I was feeling about discontinuing Doctor Who indefinitely. The reactions ranged from sorrow to understanding, offers of thanks to heartfelt pleas not to give up. And you, all of you, on this site and tumblr and quotev and wattpad, all of you really made me think about it all. And I'm so sorry that I let myself get to a place where I felt it would be better for me to not do DW any longer, especially when it would be letting so many of you down. I was reminded of how much the stories mean to all of you, how much they've helped inspire you, encourage you, brighten your days. I was reminded of how people opened up to me and admitted things about themselves that they struggled with and that the stories gave them hope and strength to face down and keep going and to be able to touch someone's life that way is something I think every author hopes to do one day. I was reminded that it's not just fanfiction, it's the characters and the readers and my relationship with all of you as an author and friend that means more to me than my fears or desires to protect my OCs, my babies. Because I consider all of you, every reader, to be one of my friends and I would hate to lose any of that, you all are my family too and you all have been so supportive of me, so protective, so encouraging, that, after a very focused and deep consideration, I've decided that I WILL continue to write DW.

I will admit, I reconsidered it. I was going to announce in the last chapter, on Tuesday, that I felt comfortable enough to continue DW, and then one of my readers was threatened to be cut and it just threw it all back at me that it's not even just the OCs that were in danger but my actual readers. Even if it was an internet threat, it was still a threat, and it made me feel so guilty that it had happened because of my stories :( But I saw so many of you rally together and express how you felt about that threat and I like to think we've all become a family by now and that, to threaten or harm one of us is to threaten and harm us all and we stick together and look out for each other. You've all proven that my OCs are safe with you, because if you see them or their stories being taken, you tell me about it and it really brings a tear to my eye that people know my stories THAT well that they can recognize my work in someone else's when they try to copy it. And you've all proven that you're safe with each other as well, that you stick up for and protect each other. And that does make me tear up too, that all of you feel you can connect and relate to each other through my stories.

So yes...I WILL continue Doctor Who for Proffy, Evy, Angel, Mac, and the Judge, as well as continue with the 3 future TLs still to come :)

I have to say thank you though, all of you, when I'm down and when I'm really questioning myself and my choices, you all are always there for me to set me straight and remind me of the things that mean so much to me when it comes to why I write. You're always here for me and I will try my best to always be there for you too :')

I love you all :')

And, before I forget, I should probably add...

To be continued...in...Penance and Patience!

Also, 4 quick notes, I have a 'name' in mind for what the 12th Doctor should call the Judge like she calls him love. But I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any they'd love to see ;) If I like yours more than mine, I'll be sure to give you a shoutout in the next story and use it instead ;)

With all the plagiarism dealings last month, I fell behind on my spinoffs and was originally planning to add in one for the Judge this/next month. I'm still going to try and do it. So we'll hopefully get a spinoff of the Judge's time in Torchwood likely the start of next month ;) I'm trying to keep them in order of when the TL was posted (save for TAOSAT and IYC as they are both for the same series so I split them as 1 at the start and 1 at the end). So it's usually an Evy spinoff, then Professor, then Angel, then Mac, and then the Judge, so hopefully the start of December and is tentatively called 'The Tales of Torchwood Three' ;)

The WWTW crossover sequel, as I was plagiarized on October 13th, will be up, instead on November 23rd so a little tribute to DW then instead ;)

And my OUAT story, Phantom Melodies, will be resumed tomorrow ;)

Now, to finish, I really just want to say thank you to all of you again, to everyone that read/reviewed/followed/favorited/anything this story. It really means so much to me to know that you all are enjoying it :') And I hope I'll be able to keep it coming in the future too, so thank you all again for all your support with my writing and encouraging me to keep going, you all reminded me that I have more reasons to keep going than to give up :')

Some notes on reviews...

Thank you, we hope my mom will be ok too :)

Yup, Clara's like Jack! ^-^

I have no idea how I end up with different ideas lol, I think I just try to get the OC as different from the others as possible and it just sort of falls into place how things end up different around them because of that :) And Clara...well, let's just say she's quite like a rather Impossible Boy that the Judge knows ;) And thank you for your support, it means a lot to me :')

Thanks, I try to go through it and get rid of as many typos as I can. I hope that, one day soon, I'll have some time to go through and read all my stories and fix everything :) I think the Judge let Clara off the hook that time because Clara was trying to stop the Doctor instead of jump with him :) I was debating having the Judge kiss the Warrior/10 but I figured that they were both aware of their own Judge relative to their timelines and would see the current Judge as 11's :) I'm glad you liked Clara working out the sonics :) I wanted to try and make it a sort of 'tough love' relationship with the Judge, that her methods are a bit harsh and seem condescending at times, but Clara really is coming out of it better in the end :)

Lol, I so called the Missy/Master after the first episode :) So I was so hoping that it would be that just for Evy :) But it'll depend if the Master still kisses the Doctor though, she might have other reactions depending on the OC with him :)


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